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THE WORLD WAR 



A HISTORY OF 

The Nations and Empires Involved and 
a Study of the Events Culminating in 

THE GREAT CONFLICT 



BY 

LOGAN MARSPIALL 

Author of "The Story of Polar Conquest, and 

the Fate of the Scott Expedition," "The Tragic 

Story of the Empress of Ireland," "Myths 

and Legends of All Nations," etc., etc. 



KIlUjE^ttateD 



?~tJ...^.^U: 



:» 






Copyright 1915 
By L. T. MYERS 

Copyright M CMXIV— L. T. M. 



HQV 18i9i5 

©G1.A4 16413 






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PREFACE 



To Canada as a country the World-War of 1914-15 came with 
the sudden shock of some vast disaster, some disturbance of nature 
too deep and profound to understand in any brief space of time. 
Its government and leading statesmen, of course, knew something 
of the preceding situation, something of the crisis which had been 
developing for years, something of the war of naval construction 
and military preparation which had anticipated the actual conflict. 
In the various Imperial Conferences which had been held from 1902 
onwards and especially in 1909 and 1911, the British Admiralty 
and War Office had laid before the Colonial Delegates every avail- 
able fact which could be confidentially submitted to them. To the 
masses of the people, however, these things were unknown, peace 
principles and propaganda had been so long before them, the danger 
of invasion or actual war was so distant and imreal, that the whole 
thing appeared impossible. 

Only the crashing of financial structures abroad, the stoppage 
of travel, the holding up for a brief time of trade and conamerce, 
the intervention of Governments in the ordinary fife and business 
of the nation, the call for men and supplies and patriotic funds 
for the troops, the beat of the drum, which, as Webster might have 
said, once more echoed round the world, made them reahze the 
situation. Even that realization was dim and indistinct. So 
wonderfully did Great Britain carry the financial world upon her 
shoulders that the rare and delicate fabric maintained its form and 

0) 



2 PREFACE 

continued its work; so marvelously did the British Navy sweep 
the seas and guard the world's commerce by shutting up her enemies' 
fleets that trade within a week was pursuing an ahnost normal 
course ; so fully did the Mother Country conserve Colonial interests, 
guard their trade routes and financial systems, continue the advance 
of money for war purposes which had previously gone into develop- 
ment work, and provide unUmited and safe markets for their pro- 
ducts; that the ordinary man and woman could go on Hving the 
ordinary life without any more disturbance than a slight business 
stringency which was inevitable, because of other and earUer world 
conditions, and an added interest in the morning or evening papers. 

Canada was at war. Yet within the first five months while 
Great Britain lost 4,000 officers and thousands of soldiers, while its 
inevitable toll of loss and death in ships once more paid the price 
of Admiralty — the cost of naval supremacy — there was in the 
Dominion only peaceful preparation to share in a future struggle. 
There was no invasion by a ruthless enemy, or any danger of one, 
the homes and famihes of the nation were as safe as in days of 
profound peace. It was, indeed, a revelation of what naval power 
meant, of what British Sea Supremacy involved, of what it was to 
be a British subject. 

This is a pregnant period; it will perhaps be followed by one of 
Imperial reconstruction which will make the greatest of world- 
empires greater yet. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

All Europe Plunged Into War ^^^^ 

Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak — Trade and Commerce 
Paralyzed — Widespread Influences — Terrible Effects of War 

—The Tide of Destruction— Half Century to Pay Debts 11 

r 

CHAPTER II 
Underlying Causes of the Great European War 

Assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince — ^Austria's Motive in 
Making War — Servia Accepts Austria's Demand — ^The Ironies of 
History — What Austria Has to Gain — How the War Became 
Continental — ^An Editorial Opinion — ^Is the Kaiser Responsible? — 
Germany's Stake in the War— Why Russia Entered the Field — 
France's Hatred of Germany — Great Britain and Italy — The 
Triple Alliance and Triple Entente 26 

CHAPTER III 
Strength and Resources of the Warring Powers 

Old and New Methods in War — Costs of Modern Warfare— Nature 
of National Resources — British and American Military Systems 
— ^Naval Strength — Resources of Austria-Hungary — Resources of 
Germany — Resources of Russia — Resources of France — 
Resources of Great Britain — Servia and Belgium 48 

CHAPTER IV 
Great Britain and the War 

The Growth of German Importance — German Militarism — Great 
Britain's Peace Efforts — Germany's Naval Program — German 

Ambitions — Preparation for War — Effect on the Empire 66 

(5) 



6 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V 

The World's Greatest War p^c.^ 

Wars as Mileposts — A Continent in Arms — How Canada Prepared 
for War — The British Sentiment — Lord Kitchener's Career 
— A Forceful Character 80 



CHAPTER VI 
The Earthquake of Napoleonism 

Its Effect on National Conditions Finally Led to the War op 1914 

Conditions in France and Germany — ^The Campaign in Italy — The 
Victory at Marengo — ^Moreau at Hohenlinden — The Consul Made 
Emperor — ^The Code Napoleon — Campaign of 1805 — ^Battle of 
Austerlitz — ^The Conquest of Prussia — The Invasion of Poland — 
Eylau and Friedland — Campaign of 1809 — Victory at Wagram — 
The Campaign in Spain — ^The Invasion of Russia — A Fatal 
Retreat — ^Dresden and Leipzig — The Hundred Days — The Con- 
gress of Vienna — The Holy Alliance 90 

CHAPTER VII 
Pan-Slavism Versus Pan-Germanism 

Russia's Part in the Servian Issue — Strength of the Russian Army — 
The Distribution of the Slavs — Origin of Pan-Slavism — The Czar's 
Proclamation — The Teutons of Europe — Intermingling of Races 
—The Nations At War 113 



CHAPTER VIII 
The Ambition of Louis Napoleon 

The Coup-d'etat of 1851 — From President to Emperor — The Empire 
is Peace — War With Austria — The Austrians Advance — The 
Battle of Magenta — Possession of Lombardy — French Victory 
at Solferino — Treaty of Peace — Invasion of Mexico — End of 
Napoleon's Career 122 



CONTENTS 7 

CHAPTER IX 
Garibaldi and Italian Unity 

Power of Austria Broken p^oh 

The Carbonari — Mazzini and Garibaldi — Cavour, the Statesman — 
The Invasion of Sicily — Occupation of Naples — Victor Emmanuel 
Takes Command — ^Watchword of the Patriots — Garibaldi Marches 
Against Rome — ^Battle of Ironclads — Final Act of Itahan Unity. , 138 

CHAPTER X 
, The Expansion of Germany 

Beginnings of Modern World Power 

William I of Prussia — ^Bismarck's Early Career — The Schleswig- 

Holstein Question — Conquest of the Duchies — ^Bismarck's Wider 

Views — ^War Forced on Austria — The War in Italy — Austria's 

' Signal Defeat at Sadowa — ^The Treaty of Prague — Germany after 

1866 151 

CHAPTER XI 
The Franco-Prussian War 

Birth of the German Empire and the French Republic 

Causes of Hostile Relations — Discontent in France — ^War with Prus- 
sia Declared — Self-deception of the French — First Meeting of the 
Armies — The Stronghold of Metz — ^Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte 
— Napoleon III at Sedan — The Emperor a Captive; France a 
Republic — Bismarck Refuses Intervention — Fall of the Fortresses 
* — Paris is Besieged — Dej&ant Spirit of the French — The 
Struggle Continued — Operations Before Paris — Fighting in the 
South— The War at an End 165 

CHAPTER XII 
Bismarck and the German Empire 

Building the Bulwarks of the Twentieth-Century Nation 

Bismarck as a Statesman — Uniting the German States — William I 
Crowned at Versailles — ^A Significant Decade — The Problem of 
Church Power — Progress of Socialism — William II and the 
Resignation of Bismarck — Old Age Insurance — Political and 
Industrial Conditions in Germany. 195 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIII 
Gladstone as an Apostle of Reform 

Great Britain Becomes a World Power p^qe 

Gladstone and Disraeli — Gladstone's Famous Budget — A Suf- 
frage Reform Bill — Disraeli's Reform Measure — Irish Church 
Disestablishment — An Irish Land Bill — Desperate State of 
Ireland — The Coercion Bill — War in Africa — Home Rule for 
Ireland , 206 

CHAPTER XIV 
The French Republic 

Struggles of a New Nation 

The Republic Organized — The Commune of Paris — Instability o 
the Government — ^Thiers Proclaimed President — Punishment 
of the Unsuccessful Generals — MacMahon a Royalist President — 
Bazaine's Sentence and Escape — Gr^vy, Gambetta and Bou- 
langer — The Panama Canal Scandal — Despotism of the Army 
Leaders — ^The Dreyfus Case — Church and State — ^The Moroccan 
Controversy 219 

CHAPTER XV 
Russia in the Field of War 

The Outcome of Slavic Ambition 

Siege of Sebastopol — Russia in Asia — The Russo-Japanese War — Port 

Arthur Taken — ^The Russian Fleet Defeated 236 

CHAPTER XVI 
Great Britain and Her Colonies 

How England Became Mistress of the Seas 

Great Britain as a Colonizing Power — Colonies in the Pacific Region — 
Colonization in Africa — ^British Colonies in Africa — ^The Mahdi 
Rebellion in Egypt — Gordon at Khartoum — Suppression of the 
Mahdi Revolt — Colonization in Asia — ^The British in India — Col- 
onies in America — Development of Canada — Progress in Canada . 242 



CONTENTS 9 

CHAPTER XVII 
The Open Door in China and Japan 

Development of World Power in the East paqh 

Warlike Invasions of China — Commodore Perry and His Treaty- — 
Japan's Rapid Progress — Origin of the China-Japan War — The 
Position of Korea — ^Li Hung Chang and the Empress- — How Japan 
Began War — The Chinese and Japanese Fleets — The Battle of 
the Yalu — Capture of Wei Hai Wei — ^Europe Invades China — 
The Boxer Outbreak — Russian Designs on Manchuria — ^Japan 
Begins War on Russia — ^The Armies Meet — Chuia Becomes a 
Repubhc 257 

CHAPTER XVIII 
Turkey and the Balkan States 

Checking the Dominion of the Turk in Europe 

The Story of Servia — Turkey in Europe — ^The Bulgarian Horrors — 
The Defense of Plevna — ^The Congress of Berlin — Hostile Senti- 
ments in the Balkans — Incitement to War — Fighting Begins — 
The Advance on Adrianople — Servian and Greek Victories — The 
Bulgarian Successes — Steps toward Peace — The War Resumed — 
Siege of Scutari — Treaty of Peace — ^War Between the Allies — ^The 
Final Settlement 277 

CHAPTER XIX 

Methods in Modern Warfare 

Ancient and Modern Weapons — ^New Types of Weapons — ^The Iron- 
clad Warship — The Balloon in War — Tennyson's Foresight — Gun- 
ning for Airships — The Submarine — Under-water Warfare — ^The 
New Type of Battleship— Mobilization— The Waste of War.. 295 

CHAPTER XX 

Canada's Part in the World War 

New Relations Toward the Empire — ^Military Preparations — The 
Great Camp at Valcartier— The Canadian Expeditionary Force — 
Political Effect of Canada's Action on Future of the Dominion. 304 



CHAPTER I 
All Europe Plunged Into War 

Dramatic Suddenness of the Outbreak— Trade and Commerce Paralyzed— Widespread 

Influences— TeiTible Effects of War— The Tide of Destruction— Who Caused the 

Conflict?— Half Century to Pay Debts. 

AT the opening of the final week of July, 1914, the whole 
/jk world — ^with the exception of Mexico, in which the smoul- 
-^ -^ dering embers of the revolution still burned — ^was in a 
state of profound peace. The clattering hammers and whirling 
wheels of industry were everywhere to be heard; great ships furrowed 
the ocean waves, deep-laden with the world's products and carrying 
thousands of travelers bent on business or enjoyment. Countless 
trains of cars, drawn by smoke-belching locomotives, traversed the 
long leagues of iron rails, similarly laden with passengers engaged 
in peaceful errands and freight mtended for peaceful purposes. 
All seemed at rest so far as national hostile sentiments were con- 
cerned. All was in motion so far as useful industries demanded 
service. Europe, America, Asia and Africa alike had settled down 
as if to a long holiday from war, and the advocates of universal 
peace were jubilant over the progress of their cause, holding peace 
congresses and conferences at The Hague and elsewhere, fully 
satisfied that the last war had been fought and that arbitration 
boards would settle all future disputes among nations, however 
serious. 

Such occasions occur at frequent intervals in nature, in which 
a deep calm, a profound peace, rests over land and sea. The winds 
are hushed, the waves at rest; only the needful processes of the 
universe are in action, while for the time the world forgets the 
chained demons of unrest and destruction. But too quickly the 
chains are loosened, the winds and waves set free; and the hostile 



12 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 

forces of nature rush over earth and sea, spreading terror and 
devastation in their path. Such energies of hostihty are not con- 
fined to the elements. They exist in human conmiunities. They 
underhe the pohtical conditions of the nations, and their outbreak 
is at times as sudden and imlooked-for as that of the winds and waves. 
Such was the state of pohtical affairs in Europe at the date men- 
tioned, apparently cahn and restful, while below the surface hostile 
forces which had long been fomenting unseen were ready to burst 
forth and whelm the world. 

DRAMATIC SUDDENNESS OF THE OUTBREAK 

On the night of July 25th the people of the civiUzed world 
settled down to restful slumbers, with no dreams of the turmoil 
that was ready to burst forth. On the morning of the 26th they 
rose to learn that a great war had begun, a confhct the possible 
width and depth of which no man was yet able to foresee; and as 
day after day passed on, each day some new nation springing into 
the terrible arena until practically the whole of Europe was in 
arms and the Armageddon seemed at hand, the world stood amazed 
and astounded, wondering what hand had loosed so vast a catas- 
trophe, what deep and secret causes lay below the ostensible causes 
of the war. The causes of this were largely unknown. As a panic 
at times affects a vast assemblage, with no one aware of its origin, 
so a wave of hostile sentiment may sweep over vast communities 
until the air is full of urgent demands for war with scarce a man 
knowing why. 

What is already said only feebly outHnes the state of con- 
sternation into which the world was cast in that fateful week in 
which the doors of the Temple of Janus, long closed, were sud- 
denly thrown wide open and the terrible God of War marched 
forth, the whole earth trembling beneath his feet. It was the 
breaking of a mighty storm in a placid sky, the fall of a meteor 
which spreads terror and destruction on all sides, the explosion 
of a vast bomb in a great assemblage; it was everything that can 



ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 13 

be imagined of the sudden and overwhelming, of the amazing and 
incredible. 

TRADE AND COMMERCE PARALYZED 

For the moment the world stood still, plmiged into a panic 
that stopped all its activities. The stock exchanges through- 
out the nations were closed, to prevent that wild and' hasty action 
which precipitates disaster. Throughout Europe trade, industry, 
commerce all ceased, paralyzed at their sources. No ship of any 
of the nations concerned except Britain dared venture from port, 
lest it should fall a prey to the prowling sea dogs of war which made 
all the oceans unsafe. The hosts of American tourists who had gone 
abroad under the sunny skies of peace suddenly beheld the dark 
clouds of war rolling overhead, blotting out the sun, and casting 
their black shadows over all things fair. 

What does this state of affairs, this sudden stoppage of the 
wheels of industry, this unforeseen and wide spread of the conditions 
of war portend? Emerson has said: "When a great thinker comes 
into the world all things are at risk." There is potency in this, 
and also in a variation of Emerson's text which we shall venture to 
make: "When a great war comes upon the world all things are at 
risk." Everything which we have looked upon as fixed and stable 
quakes as if from mighty hidden forces. The whole world stands 
irresolute and amazed. The steady-going habits and occupations 
of peace cease or are perilously threatened, and no one can be sure 
of escaping from some of the dire effects of the catastrophe. 

WIDESPREAD INFLUENCES 

The conditions of production vanish, to be replaced by condi- 
tions of destruction. That which had been growing in grace and 
beauty for years is overturned and destroyed in a moment of rav- 
age. Changes of this kind are not confined to the countries in 
which the war rages or the cities which conquering columns of troops 
occupy. They go beyond the borders of military activity; they 



14 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 

extend to far-off quarters of the earth. We quote from the New 
York World sl vivid picture drawn at the opening of the great 
European war. Its motto is "all the world is paying the cost of 
the folly of Europe." 

''Never before was war made so swiftly wide. News of it 
comes from Japan, from Porto Rico, from Africa, from places where 
in old days news of hostiUties might not travel for months. 

''Non-combatants in Argentina face ruin from the stoppage of 
their wheat trade. Peru declares a moratorium. China will 
miss her ginseng from the Virginia mountains, and must otherwise 
make medicine. Rubber tires go soaring in price. Boots will do 
the same while shoemakers shoot each other, and the commerce 
in hides is halted. Children the world over will miss their Nurem- 
berg toys at Christmas. 

"Non-combatants are in the vast majority, even in the 
countries at war, but they are not immime to its blight. Austria 
is isolated from the world because her ally, Germany, will take no 
chances of spilling mihtary information and will not forward mails. 
If, telephoning in France, you use a single foreign word, even an 
English one, your wire is cut. Hans the German waiter, Franz the 
clarinettist in the little street band, is locked up as a possible spy. 
There are great German business houses in London and Paris; 
their condition is that of Enghsh and French business houses in 
Berlin, and that is not pleasant. Great Britain contemplates, as 
an act of war, the voiding of patents held by Germans in the United 
Kingdom. 

"Nothing is too petty, nothing too great, nothing too distant 
in kind or miles from the field of war to feel its influence. The 
whole world is the loser by it, whoever at the end of all the battles 
may say that he has won." 

DILEMMA OF THE TOURISTS 

Let us consider one of the early results of the war. It vitally 
affected great numbers of Americans, the army of tourists who had 



ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR . 15 

made their way abroad for rest, study and recreation and whose 
numbers, while unknown, were great, some estimating them at the 
high total of 100,000 or more. These, scattered over all sections 
of Europe, some with money in abundance, some with just enough 
for a brief journey, capitalists, teachers, students, all were caught 
in the sudden flurry of the war, their letters of credit useless, trans- 
portation difficult or impossible to obtain, all exposed to incon- 
veniences, some to indignities, some of them on the flimsiest pretence 
seized and searched as spies, the great mass of them thrown into a 
state of panic that added greatly to the unpleasantness of the 
situation in which they found themselves. 

While these conditions of panic gradually adjusted themselves, 
the status of the tourists continued difficult and annoying. The 
railroads were seized for the transportation of troops, leaving many 
Americans helplessly held in far interior parts, frequently without 
money or credit. One example of the difficulties encoimtered 
v/ill serve as an instance which might be repeated a hundred 
fold. 

Seven hundred Americans from Geneva were made by Swiss 
troops to leave a train. Many who refused were forced off at the 
point of guns. This compulsory removal took place at some 
distance from a station near the border, according to Mrs. Edward 
Collins, of New York, who with her three daughters was on the 
train. With 200 others they reached Paris and were taken aboard 
a French troop train. Most of the arrivals were women; the men 
were left behind because of lack of space. One hundred women 
refused to take the train without their husbands; scores struck 
back for Geneva; others on foot, carrying articles of baggage, 
started in the direction of Paris, hoping to get trains somewhere. 
Just why Swiss troops thus occupied themselves is not explained; 
but in times of warlike turmoil many unexplainable things occur. 
Here is an incident of a different kind, told by one of the escaping 
host : ''I went into the restaurant car for lunch," he said. "When I 
tried to return to the car where I'd left my suitcase, hat, cane and 



16 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 

overcoat, I couldn't find it. Finally the conductor said blithely, 
'Oh, that car was taken off for the use of the army.' 

"I was forced to continue traveling coatless, hatless and minus 
my baggage until I boarded the steamer Flushing, when I managed 
to swipe a straw hat during the course of the Channel passage 
while the people were down eating in the saloon. I grabbed the 
first one on the hatrack. Talk about a romantic age. Why, I 
wouldn't five in any other time than now. We will be boring our 
grandchildren talking about this war." 

The scarcity of provisions in many locahties and the with- 
holding of money by the banks made the situation', as regarded 
Americans, especially serious. Those fortunate enough to reach 
port without encountering these difficulties found the situation 
there equally embarrassing. The great German and Enghsh liners, 
for instance, were held up by order of the government, or feared 
to sail lest they should be taken captive by hostile cruisers. Many 
of these lay in port in New York, forbidden to sail for fear of capture. 
These included ships of the Cunard and International Marine 
fines, the North German Lloyd, the Hamburg-American, the 
Russian-American, and the French lines, until this port led the 
world in the congestion of great liners rendered inactive by the war 
situation abroad. The few that put to sea were utterly incapable 
of accommodating a tithe of the anxious and appealing appficants. 
It had ceased, in the state of panic that prevailed, to be a mere 
question of money. Frightened miUionaires were credited with beg- 
ging for steerage berths. Everywhere was dread and confusion, men 
and women being in a state of mind past the limits of calm reason- 
ing. Impulse is the sole rufing force where reason has ceased to act. 

Slowly the skies cleared; calmer conditions began to prevail. 
The United States government sent the battleship Tennessee abroad 
with several milfions of dollars for the aid of destitute travelers and 
the relief of those who could not get their letters of credit and trav- 
elers' checks cashed. Such a measure of refief was necessary, there 
being people abroad with letters of credit for as much as $5,000 



ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 17 

without money enough to buy a meal. One tourist said: "I 
had to give a Milwaukee doctor, who had a letter of credit for $2,500, 
money today to get shaved." London hotels showed much consider- 
ation for the needs of travelers without ready cash, but on the 
continent there were many such who were refused hotel accom- 
modation. * 

As for those who reached New York or other American ports, 
many had fled in such haste as to leave their baggage behind. 
Numbers of the poorer travelers had exhausted their scanty stores 
of cash in the effort to escape from Europe and reached port utterly 
penniless. The case was one that called for immediate and adequate 
solution and the governmental and moneyed interests on this side 
did their utmost to cope with the situation. Vessels of American 
register were too few to carry the host applying for transportation, 
and it was finally decided to charter foreign vessels for this purpose 
and thus hasten the work of moving the multitude of appealing 
tourists. From 15,000 to 20,000 of these needed immediate atten- 
tion, a majority of them being destitute. 

AN OCEAN INCIDENT 

Men and women needed not only transportation, but money 
also, and in this particular there is an interesting story to tell. 
The German steamer Kronprinzessin Cecilie, bound for Bremen, 
had sailed from New York before the outbreak of the war, carrying 
about 1,200 passengers and a precious freight of gold, valued at 
$10,700,000. The value of the vessel herself added $5,000,000 to 
this sum. What had become of her and her tempting cargo was for 
a time unknown. There were rumors that she had been captured 
by a British cruiser, but this had no better foundation than such 
rumors usually have. Her captain was alert to the situation, 
being informed by wireless of the sudden change from peace to war. 
One such message, received from an Irish wireless station, conveyed 
an order from the Bremen company for him to return with all haste 
to an American port. 



18 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 

It was on the evening of Friday, July 31st, that this order came. 
At once the vessel changed its course. One by one the ship's lights 
were put out. The decks which could not be made absolutely 
dark were enclosed with canvas. By midnight the ship was as 
dark as the sea surroimding. On she went through Saturday and 
on Sunday ran into a dense fog. Through this she rushed with un- 
checked speed and in utter silence, not a toot coming from her fog- 
horn. This was all very well as a measure of secrecy, but it opened 
the way to serious danger through a possible collision, and a com- 
mittee of passengers was formed to request the captain to reconsider 
his action. Just as the committee reached his room the first blast 
of the fog-horn was heard, its welcome tone bringing a sense of 
security where grave apprehension had prevailed. 

A group of financiers were on board who offered to^^J tlie 
ship and sail her under American colors. ' But to all such proposals 
Captain Polack turned a deaf ear. He said that his duty was 
spelled by his orders from Bremen to turn back and save his ship, 
and these he proposed to obey. A passenger stated : • 

"There were seven of the crew on watch all the time, two 
aloft. This enabled the captain to know of passing vessels before 
they came above the horizon. We were undoubtedly in danger 
on Sunday afternoon. We intercepted a wireless message in French 
in which two French cruisers were exchanging data in regard to 
their positions. 

"The captain told me that he imagined those to be two vessels 
who regularly patroled the fishing grounds in the interest of French 
fisheries. If the captain of either of those vessels should have come 
out of the fog and found us, his share of the prize in nioney might 
have amounted to $4,000,000. Did privateer ever dream of such 
booty! 

"Early on Saturday our four great funnels were given broad 
black bands in order to make us look like the Olympic, which was 
supposed to be twenty-four hours ahead of us. There was a 
certain grim humor in the fact that the wireless operator on the 



ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 19 

Olympic kept calling us all Friday night. Of course we did not 
answer." 

On Tuesday, August 4th, the great ship came within sight of 
land at the little village of Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, off 
the coast of Maine; a port scarce large enough to hold the giant 
liner that had sought safety in its waters. Wireless messages 
were at once flashed to all parts of the coimtry and the news that the 
endangered vessel, with its precious cargo, was safe, was received 
with general relief. As regards the future movements of the ship 
Captain Polack said: 

"I can see no possibility of taking this ship to New York from 
here with safety. To avoid foreign vessels we should have to keep 
within the three-mile limit, and to accomplish this the ship would 
have to be built like a canoe. We have reached an American port 
in safety and that was more than I dared to hope. We have been 
in almost constant danger of capture, and we can consider ourselves 
extremely lucky to have come out so well. 

" I know I have been criticized for making too great speed under 
bad weather conditions, but I have not wilfully endangered the 
lives of the passengers. I would rather have lost the whole ship 
and cargo than have assumed any such risk. Of course, aside from 
this consideration, my one aim has been to save my ship and my 
cargo from capture. 

"I have not been acting on my own initiative, but under orders 
from the North German Lloyd in Bremen, and although I am an 
officer in the German navy my duty has been to the steamship 
Ime." 

CLOSING THE STOCK: MARKETS 

We have SO far dealt with only a few of the results of the war. 
There were various others of great moment, to some of which a 
passing allusion has been made. 

On July 30th, for the first time in history, the stock markets 
of the world were all closed at the same time. Heretofore when the 



20 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 

European markets have been closed those on this side of the ocean 
remained open. The New York Exchange was the last big stock 
market to announce temporary suspension of business. The 
New York Cotton Exchange closed, following the announcement 
of the failure of several brokerage firms. Stock Exchanges through- 
out the United States followed the example set by New York. 
The Stock Exchanges in London and the big provincial cities, as 
well as those on the Continent, ceased business, owing to the break- 
down of the credit system, which was made complete by the 
postponement of the Paris settlement. 

Depositors stormed every bank in London for gold, and the 
runs continued for a couple of days. In order to protect its 
dwindling gold supply the Bank of England raised its discount 
rate to 8 per cent. Leading bankers of London requested Premier 
Asquith to suspend the bank act, and he promised to lay the matter 
before the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In all the capitals of 
Europe financial transactions virtually came to a standstill. The 
slump in the market value of securities within the first week of the 
war flurry was estimated at $2,000,000,000, and radical measures 
were necessary to prevent hasty action while the condition of panic 
prevailed. 

This sudden stoppage of ordinary financial operations was 
accompanied by a similar cessation of the industries of peace over 
a wide range of territory. The artisan was forced to let fall the 
tools of his trade and take up those of war. The railroads were 
similarly denuded of their employees except in so far as they were 
needed to convey soldiers and military supphes. The customary 
uses of the railroad were largely suspended and travel went on under 
great difficulties. In a measure it had returned to the conditions 
existing before the invention of the locomotive. Even horse traffic 
was Hmited by the demands of the army for these animals, and foot 
travel regained some of its old ascendency. 

War makes business active in one direction and in one only, 
that of army and navy supply, of the manufacture of the imple- 



ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 21 

ments of destruction, of vast quantities of explosives, of multitudes 
of death-dealing weapons. Food supplies need to be diverted in the 
same direction, the demands of the soldier being considered first, 
those of the home people last, the latter being often supphed at 
starvation prices. There is plenty of work to do — of its kind. But 
it is of a kind that injures instead of aiding the people of the nations. 

TEKEIBLE EFFECTS OF WAB ' 

This individual source of misery and suffering in war times is 
accompanied by a more direct one, that of the main piu-pose of war 
— destruction of hmnan life and of property that might be utiUzed 
by an enemy, frequently of merciless brigandage and devastation. 
It is horrible to think of the frightful suffering caused by every great 
battle. Inamediate death on the field might reasonably be welcomed 
as an escape from the suffering arising from wounds, the terrible 
mutilations, the injm-ies that rankle throughout life, the conversion 
of hosts of able-bodied men into feeble invalids, to be kept by the 
direct aid of their fellows or the indirect aid of the people at large 
through a system of pensions. 

The physical sufferings of the soldiers from wounds and priva- 
tions are perhaps not the greatest. Side by side with them are the 
mental anxieties of their families at home, their tenibk suspense, 
the effect upon them of tidings of the maiming or death of those 
dear to them or on whose labor they immediately depend. The 
harvest of misery arising from this cause it is impossible to estimate. 
It is not to be seen in the open. It dwells unseen in humble homes, 
in city, village, or field, borne often imcomplainingly, but not less 
poignant from this cause. The tears and terrors thus produced 
are beyond calculation. But while the glories of war are celebrated 
with blast of trumpet and roll of drum, the terrible accompaniment 
of groans of misery is too apt to pass unheard and die away for- 
gotten. 

To turn from this roll of horrors, there are costs of war in other 
directions to be considered. Those include the ravage of cities 



22 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 

by jflame or pillage, the loss of splendid works of architecture, the 
irretrievable destruction of great productions of art, the vanishing 
of much on which the world had long set store, 

THE TIDE OF DESTRUCTION 

Not only on land, but at sea as well, the tide of destruction 
rises and swells. Huge warships, built at a cost of millions of 
dollars and tenanted by hundreds of hardy sailors, are torn and 
rent by shot and shell and at times sent to the bottom with all on 
board by the explosion of torpedoes beneath their unprotected 
lower hulls. The torpedo boat, the submarine, with other agencies 
of imseen destruction, have come into play to add enormously 
to the horrors of naval warfare, while the bomb-dropping airship, 
letting fall its dire missiles from the sky, has come to add to the 
dread terror and torment of the battle-field. 

We began this chapter with a statement of the startling sud- 
denness of this great war, and the widespread consequences 
which immediately followed. We have been led into a discussion 
of its issues, of the disturbing and distracting consequences which 
cannot fail to follow any great modem war between civihzed nations. 
We had some examples of this on a small scale in the recent Balkan- 
Turkish war. But that was of minor importance and its effects, 
many of them sanguinary and horrible, were mainly confined to the 
region in which it occurred. But a war covering nearly a whole 
continent cannot be confined and circumscribed in its conse- 
quences. All the world must feel them in a measure — though 
diminishing with distance. The vast expanse of water which 
separates the United States from the European continent could not 
save its citizens from feeling certain ill effects from the struggle 
of war lords. America and Europe are tied together with many 
cords of business and interest, and the severing or weakening 
of these cannot fail to be seriously felt. Canada, at a similar 
width of removal from Europe, had reason to feel it still more 
seriously, from its close political relations with Great Britain. 



ALL EUUOPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 23 

In these days in which we live the cost of war is a giant to 
be reckoned with. With every increase in the size of cannon, 
the tonnage of warships, the destructiveness of weapons and 
ammunition, this element of cost grows proportionately greater 
and has in our day become stupendous. Nations may spend m 
our era more cold cash in a day of war than would have served for a 
year in the famous days of chivalry. A study of this question 
was made by artoiy and navy experts in 1914, and they decided 
that the expense to the five nations concerned in the European war 
would be not less than $50,000,000 a day. 

If we add to this the loss of untold numbers of young men in 
the prime of life, whose labor is needed in the fields and workshops 
of the nations involved, other billions of dollars must be added 
to the estimate, due to the crippling of industries. There is also the 
destruction of property to be considered, including the very costly 
modern battleships, this also footing up into the billions. 

When it is considered that in thirteen years the cost of main- 
tenance of the armies and navies of the warring countries, as well as 
the cost of naval construction, exceeded $20,000,000,000, some idea 
may be had of the expense attached to war and the preparations 
of European countries for just such contingencies as those that arose 
in Europe in 1914. The cost of the Panama Canal, one of the most 
useful aids to the commeree of the world, was approximately 
$375,000,000, but the expense of the preparations for war in Europe 
during the time it took to build the canal exceeded the cost of this 
gigantic undertaking nearly sixty to one. 

The money thus expended on preparation for war during the 
thirteen years named would, if spent in railroad and marine construc- 
tion, have given vast commercial power to these nations. To what 
extent have they been benefited by the rivalry to gain precedence in 
military power? They stand on practically the same basis now that 
it is all at an end. Would they not be on the same basis if it had 
never begun? Aside from this is the incentive to employ these vast 
armaments in the purpose for which they were designed, the effect 



24 ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAB 

of creating a military spirit and developing a military caste in 
each by the nations, a result very likely to be productive of ill effects. 
The total expense of maintenance of armies and navies, together 
with the cost of construction in thirteen years, in Germany, Austria, 
Russia, France and Great Britain, was as follows: 

Naval expenditures $5,648,525,000 

Construction 2,146,765,000 

Cost of armies. 13,138,403,000 



Total. ,.„...„,. c »,. .,,.» . $20,933,693,000 

The wealth of the same nations in round figures is: 

Great Britain....... $80,000,000,000 

Germany 60,500,000,000 

Austria 25,000,000,000 

■ France 65,000,000,000 

Russia 40,000,000,000 

Total. $270,500,000,000 

This enormous expense whicji was incurred in preparation for 
war needed to be rapidly increased to meet the expenses of actual 
warfare. The British House of Commons authorized war credits 
amounting to $1,025,000,000, while the German Reichstag voted 
$1,250,000,000. Austria and France had to set aside vast sums 
for their respective war chests. 

HALF x:;entuiiy to pay bebts 

In anticipation of trouble Germany in 1913 voted $250,000,000 
for extraordmary war expenses and about $100,000,000 was spent" 
on an aerial fleet. France spent $60,000,000 for the same purpose. 

The annual cost of maintaining the great armies and navies of 



ALL EUROPE PLUNGED INTO WAR 25 

Europe even on a peace basis is enormous, and it must be vastly 
increased during war. The oJ[ficial figiu-es for 1913-14 are: 

British army $224,300,000 

British navy 224,140,000 

German army 183,090,000 

German navy 111,300,000 

• French army. 191,431,580 

French navy 119,571,400 

Russian army 317,800,000 

Russian navy 122,500,000 

Austrian army '. . 82,300,000 

Austrian navy 42,000,000 

Total $1,618,432,980 

It was evident that taxes to meet the extraordinary expenses of 
war would have to be greatly increased in Germany and France. 
As busiuess became at a standstill throughout Europe and every port 
of entry blocked, experts wondered where the money was to come 
from. All agreed that, when peace should be declared and the 
figures were all in, the result financially would be staggering and that 
the heaviest burden it had ever borne would rest upon Europe for 
fifty years to come. For when the roar of the cannon ceases and 
the nations are at rest, then dawns the era of payment, inevitable, 
imescapable, one in which for generations every man and woman 
must share. 



CHAPTER II 
Underlying Causes of the Great European War 

Assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince — Austria's Motive in Making War — Servia 
Accepts Austria's Demand — The Ironies of History — What Austria had to Gain — ^How 
the War Became Continental — An Editorial Opinion — Is the Kaiser Responsible? — 
Germany's Stake in the War — Why Russia Entered the Field — France's Hatred 
of Germany — Great Britain and Italy — The Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. 

WHAT brought on the mighty war which so suddenly 
sprang forth? What evident, what subtle, what deep- 
hidden causes led to this sudden demohtion of the temple 
of peace? What pride of power, what lust of ambition, what deshe 
of imperial dominion cast the armed hosts of the nations into the 
field of conflict, on which multitudes of innocent victims were to 
be sacrificed to the insatiate hunger for blood of the modern 
Moloch? 

Here are questions which few are capable of answering. Osten- 
sible answers may be given, surface causes, reasons of immediate 
potency. But no one will be willing to accept these as the 
true moving causes. For a continent to spring in a week's time 
from complete peace into almost imiversal war, with all the great 
and several of the small Powers involved, is not to be explained 
by an apothegm or embraced within the limits of a paragraph. If 
not all, certainly several of these nations had enmities to be ifn- 
chained, ambitions to be gratified, long-hidden purposes to be put in 
action. They seemed to have been awaiting an opportunity, and 
it came when the anger of the Servians at the seizure of Bosnia 
by Austria culminated in a mad act of assassination. 

ASSASSINATION OF THE AUSTRIAN CROWN PRINCE 

The immediate cause, so far as apparent to us, of the war in 
question was the murder, on June 29, 1914, of the Austrian Crown 

(26) 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 27 

Prince Francis Ferdinand and his wife, while on a visit to Sarajevo, 
the capital of Bosnia, the assassin being a Servian student, supposed 
to have come for that purpose from Belgrade, the Servian capital. 
The inspiring cause of this dastardly act was the feeling of hostility 
towards Austria which was widely entertained in Servia. Bosnia was 
a part of the ancient kingdom of Servia. The bulk of its people are 
of Slavic origin and speak the Servian language. Servia was eager to 
regain it, as a possible outlet for a border on the Mediterranean Sea. 
When, therefore, in 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
which had been under her mihtary control since 1878, the indigna- 
tion in Servia was great. While it had died down in a measure 
in the subsequent years, the feeling of injury survived in many 
hearts, and there is Httle reason to doubt that the assassination of 
Archduke Ferdinand was a result of this pervading sentiment. 

In fact, the Austrian government was satisfied that the murder 
plot was hatched in Belgrade and held that Servian officials were in 
some way concerned in it. The Servian press gave some warrant 
for this, being openly boastful and defiant in its comments. When 
the Austrian consul-general at Belgrade dropped dead in the con- 
sulate the papers showed their satisfaction and hinted that he had 
been poisoned. This attitude of the press evidently was one of 
the reasons for the stringent demand made by Austria on July 23d, 
requiring apology and change of attitude from Servia and asking for 
a reply by the hour of 6 p. m. on the 25th. The demands were in 
part as follows: 

1. An apology by the Servian government in its official journal 
for all Pan-Servian propaganda and for the participation of Servdan 
army officers in it, and warning all Servians in the future to desist 
from anti-Austrian demonstrations. 

2. That orders to this effect should be issued to the Servian army. 

3. That Servia should dissolve all societies capable of con- 
ducting intrigues against Austria. 

4. That Servia should curb the activities of the Servian press 
in regard to Austria. 



28 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

5. That Austrian officials should be permitted to conduct an 
inquiry in Servia independent of the Servian government into the 
Sarajevo plot. 

An answer to these demands was sent out at ten minutes before 
6 o'clock on the 25th, in which Servia accepted all demands except 
the last, which it did not deem "in accordance with international 
law and good neighborly relations." It asked that this demand 
should be submitted to The Hague Tribunal. The Austrian Minis- 
ter at Belgrade, Baron Giesl von Gieslingen, refused to accept this 
reply and at once left the capital with the entire staff of the legation. 
The die was cast, as Austria probably intended that it should be. 

Austria's motive in making war 

It had, in fact, become evident early in July that the military 
party in Austria was seeking to manufacture a popular demand for 
war, based on the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his 
wife. Such was the indication of the tone of the Vienna newspapers, 
which appeared desirous of working up a sentiment hostile to Servia. 
It may be doubted if the aged emperor was a party to this. Probably 
his assent was a forced one, due to the insistence of the war party 
and the pubhc sentiment developed by it. That the miu"der of 
the Archduke was the real cause of the action of Austria can scarcely 
be accepted in view of Servia's acceptance of Austria's rigid demands. 
The actual cause was undoubtedly a deeper one, that of Austria's 
long-cherished purpose of gaining a foothold on the^JEgean Sea, 
for which the possession of Servia was necessary as a preliminary 
step. A plausible motive was needed, any pretext that would serve 
as a satisfactory excuse to Europe for hostile action and that could 
at the same time be utihzed in developing Austrian indignation 
against the Servians. Such a motive came in the act of assassination 
and immediate use was made of it. The Austrian war party 
contended that the deed was planned at Belgrade, that it had been 
fomented by Servian officials, and that these had suppHed the 
murderer with explosives and aided in their transfer into Bosnia. 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 29 

What evidence Austria possessed leading to this opinion we 
do not know. While it is not likely that there was any actual 
evidence, the case was one that called for investigation, and Austria 
was plainly within its rights in demanding such an inquiry and due 
punishment of every one found to be connected with the tragic deed. 
But Austria went farther than this. It was wilHng to accept 
nothing less than a complete and humihating submission on the 
part of Servia. And the impression was widely entertaiaed, whether 
with or without cause, that in this Austria was not acting alone 
but that it had the full support of Germany. That country also 
may be supposed to have had its ends to gain. What these were we 
shall consider later. 

SEBVIA ACCEPTS AUSTRIA'S DEMANDS 

Imperious as had been the demand of Austria, one which would 
never have been submitted to a Power of equal strength, Servia 
accepted it, expressuig itself as willing to comply with all the con- 
ditions imposed except that relating to the participation of Aus- 
trian officials in the inquiry, an explanation being asked on this 
point. If .this reply should be deemed inadequate, Servia stood 
ready to submit the question at issue to The Hague Peace Tribunal 
and to the Powers which had signed the declaration of 1909 relating 
to Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

The subsequent action of Austria was significant. The Aus- 
trian Minister at Belgrade, as before stated, rejected it as unsatis- 
factory and immediately left the Servian capital. He acted, in short, 
with a precipitancy that indicated that he was acting under instruc- 
tions. This was made very evident by what immediately followed. 
When news came on July 28th that war had been declared and active 
hostiUties commenced, it was accompanied by the statement that 
Austria would not now be satisfied even with a full acceptance of her 
demands. 

That the intention of this imperious demand and what quickly 
followed was to force a war, no one can doubt. Servia's nearly 



30 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

complete assent to the conditions imposed was declared to be not 
only unsatisfactory, but also '^ dishonorable," a word doubtless 
deliberately used. Evidently no door was to be left open for 
retrogressive consideration. 

THE IRONIES OF HISTORY 

It is one of the ironies of history that a people who once played 
a leading part in saving the Austrian capital from capture should 
come to be threatened by the armies of that capital. This takes 
us back to the era when Servia, a powerful empire of those days, 
fell under the dominion of the conquering Turks, whose armies 
further overran Hungary and besieged Vienna. Had this city been 
captured, all central Europe would have lain open to the barbarities 
of the Turks. In its defense the Servians played a leading part, 
so great a one that we are told by a Hungarian historian, ''It was 
the Serb Bacich who saved Vienna." But in 1914 Servia was 
brought to the need of saving itself from Vienna. 

WHAT AUSTRIA HAD TO GAIN 

If it be asked what Austria had to gain by this act; what was 
her aim in forcing war upon a far weaker state; the answer is at hand. 
The Balkan States, of which Servia is a prominent member, he in 
a direct line between Europe and the Orient. A great power 
occupying the whole of the Balkan peninsula would possess political 
advantages far beyond those enjoyed by Austria-Hungary. It 
would be in a position giving it great influence over, if not strategic 
control of, the Suez Canal, the commerce of the Mediterranean, 
and a considerable all-rail route between Central Em^ope and the 
far East. Salonika, on the iEgean Sea, now in Greek territory, 
is one of the finest harbors on the Mediterranean Sea. A railway 
through Servia now connects this port with Austria and Germany. 
In addition to this railway it is not unHkely that a canal may in 
the near future connect the Danube with the harbor of Salonika. 
If this project should be carried out, the commerce of the Danube 




MAP OF THE WESTERN THEATRE OP WAR 



32 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

and its tributary streams and canals, even that of central and western 
Germany, would be able to reach the Mediterranean without passing 
through the perilous Iron Gates of the Danube or being subjected 
to the delays and dangers incident to the long passage through the 
Black Sea and the Grecian Archipelago. 

We can see m all this a powerful motive for Austria to seek to 
gain possession of Servia, as a step towards possible future control 
of the whole Balkan peninsula. The commercial and manufactur- 
ing mterests of Austria-Hungary were growing, and mastership of 
such a route to the Mediterranean would mean immense advantage 
to this ambitious empu-e. Possession of northern Italy once gave 
her the advantage of an unportant outlet to the Mediterranean. 
This, through events that will be spoken of m later chapters, was 
lost to her. She apparently then sought to reach it by a more 
direct and open road, that leading through Salonika. 

Such seem the reasons most hkely to have been active in the 
Austrian assault upon Servia. The murder of an Austrian arch- 
duke by an insignificant assassin gave no sufficient warrant for the 
act. The whole movement of events indicates that Austria was 
not seeking retribution for a crime but seizing upon a pretext for 
a.'predetermined purpose and couching her demands upon Servia 
in terms which no self-respecting nation could accept without 
protest. Servia was to be put m a position from which she could 
not escape and every door of retreat against the arbitrament of war 
was closed against her. 

But m this retrospect we are dealing with Austria and Servia 
alone. What brought Germany, what brought France, what 
brought practically the whole of Europe mto the struggle? What 
caused it to grow with starthng suddenness from a minor into a 
major conflict, from a contest between a bulldog and a terrier into 
a battle between hons? What were the unseen and unnoted con- 
ditions that, within Uttle more than a week's time, induced all the 
leading nations of Europe to cast down the gage of battle and spring 
full-armed into the arena, bent upon a struggle which threatened 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 33 

to surpass any that the world had ever seen? Certainly no trifling 
causes were here involved. Only great and far-reaching causes could 
have brought about such a catastrophe. All Europe appeared to be 
sitting, unlaiowingly or knowingly, upon a powder barrel which 
only needed some inconsequent hand to apply the match. It 
seems incredible that the mere pulling of a trigger by a Servian 
student and the slaughter of an archduke in the Bosnian capital 
could in a month's time have plunged all Europe into war. 
From small causes great events may rise. Certainly that with 
which we are here dealing strikingly illustrates this homely 
apothegm. 

HOW THE WAR BECAME CONTINENTAL 

We cannot hope to point out the varied causes which were 
at work in this vast event. Very possibly the leading ones are 
unknown to us. Yet some of the important ones are evident and 
may be made evident, and to these we must restrict ourselves. 

Allusion has already been made to the general behef that the 
Emperor of Germany was deeply concerned in it, and that Austria 
would not have acted as it did without assurance of support, in fact 
without direct instigation, from some strong alUed Power, and this 
Power is adjudged ahke by pubhc and private opinion to have been 
Germany, acting in the person of its ambitious war lord, the 
dominating Kaiser. 

It may be stated that all the Powers concerned have sought to 
disclaim responsibihty. Thus Servia called the world to witness that 
her answer to Austria was the limit of submission and conciliation. 
Austria, through her ambassador to the United States, solemnly 
declared that her assault upon Servia was a measure of "self- 
defense." Russia explained her action as "benevolent intervention," 
and expressed "a humble hope in omnipotent providence" that 
her hosts would be triumphant. Germany charged France with per- 
fidious attack upon the unarmed border of the fatherland, and 
proclaimed a holy war for "the security of her territory." France 
3 



where: the battles OF WESTERN EUROPE HAVE BEEN AND WELL 

BE FOUGHT 




dsI^iaiiTroojism m 0i?rir3&n Troops' ++ FnFJ^ch Troops •^ 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 35 

and England, Belgium and Italy deplored the conflict and protested 
that they were innocent of offense. So far as all this is concerned 
the facts are generally held to point to Germany as the chief in- 
stigator of the war. 

Russia, indeed, had made threatening movements toward 
Austria as a warning to her to desist from her threatened invasion 
of Servia. Great Britain proposed mediation. Germany made 
no movement in the direction of preventing the war, but directed 
its attention to Russia, warning it to stop mobilization within 
twenty-four hours, and inunediately afterward beginning a similar 
movement of mobilization in its own territory. On August 1st 
Germany declared war against Russia, the first step towards making 
the contest a continental one. On the 2d, when France began 
mobilization, German forces moved against Russia and France 
simultaneously and invaded the neutral states of Luxembourg and 
Belgium. It was her persistence in the latter movement that 
brought Great Britain into the contest, as this country was pledged 
to support Belgian neutrality. On August 4th, Great Britain 
sent an ultimatum to Germany to withdraw from the neutral 
territory which her troops had entered and demanded an answer 
by midnight. Germany declined to answer satisfactorily and at 
11 o'clock war was declared by Great Britain. 

AN EDITORIAL OPINION 

As regards the significance of these movements, in which 
Germany hurled declarations of war in rapid succession to east 
and west, and forced the issue of a continental war upon nations 
which had taken no decisive step, it may suflSce to^quote an editorial 
summing up of the situation as regards Germany, from the Phila- 
delphia North American of August 7th: 

''From these facts there is no escape. Leaving aside all ques- 
tions of justice or poHtical expediency, the aggressor throughout 
has been Germany. Austria's, fury over the assassination of the 
heir to the throne was natural. But Servia tendered full reparation. 



36 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

So keen and conservative an authority as Rear Admiral Mahan 
declares that 'the aggressive insolence' of Austria's 'ultimatum 
'and Servia's concession of all demands except those too humiliating 
for national self-respect' show that behind Austria's assault was 
the instigation of Berlin. He adds: 

"'Knowing how the matter would be viewed in Russia, it is 
incredible that Austria would have ventured on the ultimatum unless 
assured beforehand of the consent of Germany. The inference is 
irresistible that it was the pretext for a war already determined upon 
as soon as plausible occasion offered.' 

"Circumstantial evidence, at least, places responsibility for the 
flinging of the first firebrand upon the government of the Kaiser. 
Now, who added fuel to the flames, until the great conflagration 
was under way? 

"The next move was the Czar's. 'Fraternal sentiments of the 
Russian people for the Slavs in Servia,' he says, led him to order 
partial mobihzation, following Austria's invasion of Servia. In- 
stantly Germany protested, and within forty-eight hours sent an 
ultimatum demanding that Russia cease her preparations. On the 
following day Germany began mobihzing, and twenty-four hours 
later declared war on Russia. Mobihzation in France, necessitated 
by these events, was anticipated by Germany, which simultaneously 
flung forces into Russia, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. 

"It was Germany's historic pohcy of 'blood and iron' that 
fired Austria to attempt the crushing of Servia. It was Germany 
that hurled an ultimatum, swiftly followed by an army, at Russia. 
It was Germany that struck first at the French frontier. It was 
Germany that trampled upon solemn treaty engagements by 
invading the neutral states of Luxembourg and Belgium. And it 
was Germany that, in answer to England's demand that the neutral- 
ity of Belgium be protected, declared war against Great Britain. 

"Regardless, therefore, of questions of right and wrong, it is 
undeniable that in each succeeding crisis Germany has taken the 
aggressive. In so doing she has been inspired by a supreme confi- 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 37 

dence in her military might. But she has less reason to be proud of 
her diplomacy. The splendid audacity of her moves cannot obscure 
the fact that in making the case upon which she will be judged 
she has been outmaneuvered by the dehberation of Russia, the for- 
bearance of France and the patience of Great Britain. She has 
assumed the role of international autocrat, while giving her foes 
the advantage of prosecuting a patriotic war of defense. 

"Particularly is this true touching the violation of neutral 
territory. For nearly half a century the duchy of Luxembourg 
has been considered a 'perpetually neutral state,' under solemn 
guarantee of Austria, Great Britain, Germany and Russia. Since 
1830, when Belgium seceded from the Netherlands, it, too, has been 
held 'an independent and perpetually neutral state,' that status 
being solemnly declared in a convention signed by Great Britain, 
France, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Yet the first war move of 
Germany was to overrun these countries, seize their railroads, 
bombard their cities and lay waste their territories. 

"For forty years Germany has been the exemplar of a progres- 
sive civihzation. In spite of her adherence to inflated miUtarism, 
she has put the whole world in her debt by her inspiring industrial 
and scientific achievements. Her people have taught mankind 
lessons of incalculable value, and her sons have enriched far distant 
lands with their genius. Not the least of the catastrophes inflicted 
by this. inhuman war is that an unbridled autocracy has brought 
against the great German empire an indictment for arrogant assault 
upon the peace of nations and the security of hmnan institutions." 

IS THE KAISER I'RESPONSIBLE? 

How much reliance is to be placed on the foregoing newspaper 
opinion, and on the prevailing sentiment holding Kaiser Wilhehn 
responsible for flinging the war bomb that disrupted the ranks 
of peace, no one can say. Every one naturally looked for the 
fomenter of this frightful international conflict and was disposed to 
place the blame on the basis of rumor and personal feeling. On 



38 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

the other hand each nation concerned has vigorously disclaimed 
responsibility for the cataclysm. Austria— very meekly — claimed 
that Servia precipitated the conflict. Germany blamed it upon 
Russia and France, the former from Slavic race sentiment, the 
latter from enmity that had existed since the loss of Alsace and 
Lorraine in 1870. They, on the contrary, laid all the blame upon 
Germany. In the case of England alone we have a clear vista. 
The obligation of the island kingdom to maintain the neutral 
position of Belgium and the utter disregard of this neutrality by 
Germany forced her to take part and throw her armies into the field 
for the preservation of her international obligations. 

Many opinions were extant, many views advanced. One of 
these, from Robert C. Long, a war correspondent of note, laid the 
total responsibility upon Austria, which, he said, plimged Europe 
into war in disregard of the Kaiser, who vigorously sought to pre- 
vent the outbreak, even threatening his ally in his efforts to preserve 
peace. In his view, "All the blood-guiltiness in this war will rest 
upon two Powers, Austria and Russia. It rests on Austria for her 
undue harshness to Servia and on Russia for its dishonesty in secretly 
mobilizing its entire army at a time when it was imploring the 
Kaiser to intervene for peace, and when the Kaiser was working for 
peace with every prospect of success." 

We have quoted one editorial opinion holding Germany wholly 
responsible. Here is another, from the New York Times, which, 
with a fair degree of justice, distributes the responsibility among 
all the warring nations of Europe: 

"Germany is not responsible; Russia is not responsible, or 
Austria, or France, or England. The pillars of civilization are 
undermined and human aspirations bludgeoned down by no Power, 
but by all Powers; by no autocrats, but by all autocrats; not 
because this one or that has erred or dared or dreamed or swaggered, 
but because all, in a mad stampede for armament, trade and terri- 
tory, have sowed swords and guns, nourished harvests of death- 
dealing crops, made ready the way. 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 39 

"For what reason other than war have biUions in bonds and 
taxes been clamped on the backs of all Europe? None sought to 
evade war; each sought to be prepared to triumph when it came. 
At most some chancelleries whispered for delay, postponement; 
they knew the clash to be inevitable; if not today, tomorrow. 
Avoid war! What else have they lived for, what else prepared for, 
what else have they inculcated in the mind of youth than the sure- 
ness of the conflict and the great glory of offering themselves to 
this Moloch in sacrifice? 

"No Power involved can cover up the stain. It is indelible, 
the sin of all Europe. It could have been prevented by common 
agreement. There was no wish to prevent it. Munition manufac- 
turers were not alone in urging the race to destruction, physical 
and financial. The leaders were for it. It was policy. A boiHng 
pot will boil, a nurtured seed will grow. There was no escape from 
the avowed goal. A slow drift to the inevitable, a thunderbolt 
forged, the awful push toward the vortex! What men and nations 
want they get." 

geemany's stake in the war 

What had Germany to gain in the war in the instigation of which 
she is charged with being so deeply involved? Territorial aggran- 
dizement may have been one of her purposes. Belgium and Holland 
lay between her and the open Atlantic, and the possession of these 
countries, with their splendid ports, would pay her well for a reason- 
able degree of risk and cost. The invasion of Belgium as her first 
move in the war game may have had an ulterior purpose in the 
acquisition of that country, one likely to be as distasteful to France 
as the taking over of Alsace-Lorraine. Perhaps the neutral position 
taken by Holland, with her seeming incHnation in favor of Germany, 
may have had more than racial relations behind it. Considerations 
of ultimate safety from annexation may have had its share in this 
attitude of neutrality. 

The general impression has been that Germany went to war 



40 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

with the purpose of estabhshing beyond question her political and 
mihtary supremacy on the European continent. Mihtary despot- 
ism in Germany was the decisive factor in making inevitable the 
general war. The Emperor of Germany stood as the incarnation and 
exponent of the Prussian policy of military autocracy. He had 
ruled all German States in imwavering obedience to the militarist 
maxim: ''In times of peace prepare for war." He had used to the 
full his autocratic power in building up the German Empire and in 
making it not only a marvel of industrial efficiency, but also a stu- 
pendous military machine. In this effort he had burdened the 
people of Germany with an ever-increasing war budget. The limit 
in this direction was reached with the war budget of the year 1912, 
v/hen the revenues of the princes and of all citizens of wealth were 
specially taxed. No new sources of revenue remained. A crisis 
had come. 

That crisis, as sometimes claimed, was not any menace from 
Britain or any fear of the British power. It was rather the very 
real and very rapidly rising menace of the new great Slav power on 
Germany's border, including, as it did, the Russian Empire and 
the entire fine of Slav countries that encircled Germanic Austria 
from the Adriatic to Bohemia. These Slav peoples are separated 
from the governing Teutonic race in the Austrian Empire by the 
gulfs of blood, language, and religion. And in Europe the Slav 
population very largely outnumbers the Teuton population and 
is growing much more rapidly. 

Recent events, especially in the Balkan wars, had made it 
plain, not to the German Emperor alone, but to all the world, 
that the growth into an organized power of more than two hundred 
millions of Slav peoples along nearly three thousand miles of inter- 
national frontier was a menace to the preservation of Teuton 
supremacy in Europe. That Teuton supremacy was based 
on the sword. The German Emperor's appeal was to "My 
sword." But when the new sword of the united Slav power 
was allowed to be unsheathed, German supremacy was 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 41 

threatened on its own ground and by the weapon of its own 
choosing. 

However all this be, and it must be admitted that it is to a 
degree speculative, there were in 1914 conditions existing that 
appeared to render the time a suitable one for the seemingly 
inevitable continental war. Revelations pointing to defects 
in the French army, deficiencies of equipment and weaknesses in 
artillery, had been made in the French ParUament. The debate that 
occurred was fully dwelt upon in the German papers. And on 
July 16th the organ of Berlila radicalism, the Vossische Zeitung, 
published a leading article to show that Russia was not prepared 
for war, and never had been. As for France, it said: "A Gallic 
cock with a lame wing is not the ideal set up by the Russians. 
And when the Russian eagle boasts of being in the best of health 
who is to beUeve him? Why should the French place greater con- 
fidence in the inveterate Russian disorganization than in their own 
defective organization?" 

As regards the Kaiser's own estimate of his preparedness for 
war, and the views of national poHty he entertained, we shall let 
him speak for himself in the following extracts from former utter- 
ances: 

"We will be everywhere victorious even if we are surrounded 
by enemies on all sides and even if we have to fight superior num- 
bers, for om' most powerful ally is God above, who, since the time 
of the Great Elector and Great King, has always been on our side." 
—At Berlin, March 29, 1901. 

"I vowed never to strike for world mastery. The world 
empire that I then dreamed of was to create for the German empire 
on all sides the most absolute confidence as a quiet, honest and 
peaceable neighbor. I have vowed that if ever the time came 
when history should speak of a German world power or a Hohen- 
zollem world power this should not be based on conquest, 
but come through a mutual striving of nations after a conunon 
purposco 



42 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

"After much has been done mtemally in a military way, the 
next thing must be the arming ourselves at sea. Every German 
battleship is a new guarantee for the peace of the world. We 
are the salt of the earth, but must prove worthy of being so, 
Therefore our youth must learn to deny what is not good for them. 

"With all my heart I hope that golden peace will continue 
to be present with us." — ^At Bremen, March 22, 1905. 

"My first and last care is for my fighting forces on land and 
sea. May God grant that war may not come, but should the 
cloud descend, I am firmly convinced that the army will acquit 
itself as it did so nobly thirty-five years ago." — ^At Berlin, February 
25, 1906. 

In the early days of the reign of William II war was prominent 
in his utterances. He was the War Lord in full feather, and the 
world at that time looked with dread upon this new and some- 
what blatant apostle of militarism. Yet year after year passed 
until the roll of almost three decades was achieved, without his 
drawing the sword, and the world began to regard him as an apostle 
of peace, a wise and capable ruler who could gain his ends with- 
out the shedding of blood. What are we to beheve now? Had 
he been wearing a mask for all these years, biding his time, hiding 
from view a deeply cherished purpose? Or did he really believe 
that a mission awaited him, that regeneration of the world through 
the sanguinary path of the battle-field was his duty, and that by the 
aid of a successful war he could inaugurate a safer and sounder 
era of peace? 

We throw ,out these ideas as suggestions only. . What the 
Kaiser purposed, what deep-laid schemes of international policy 
he entertained, will, perhaps, never be known. But if he was 
really responsible for the great war, as he was so widely accused 
of being, the responsibility he assiuned was an awful one. If 
he was not responsible, as he declared and as some who claim to 
have been behind the scenes maintain, the world will be ready to 
absolve him when his innocence has been made evident. 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 43 

WHY RUSSIA ENTERED THE FIELD 

In this survey of the causes of the great war under considera- 
tion the position of Russia comes next. That country was the 
first to follow Austria and begin the threatening work of mobiHza- 
tion. Germany's first open participation consisted in a warning 
to Russia that this work must cease. Only when her warning 
was disregarded did Germany begin mobiUzation and declare war. 
All this was the work of a very few days, but in this era of active 
mihtary preparedness it needs only days, only hours in some 
instances, to change from a state of peace into a state of war and 
hurl great armed hosts against the borders of hostile nations. 

The general impression was that it was the Slavic race senti- 
ment that inspired Russia's quick action. Servia, a country of 
Slavs, brothers in race to a large section of the people of Russia, 
was threatened with national annihilation and her great kinsman 
sprang to her rescue, determined that she should not be absorbed 
by her land-hungry neighbor. This seemed to many a sufficient 
cause for Russia's action. Not many years before, when Austria 
annexed her wards, Bosnia and Herzegovina, both Slavic countries, 
Russia protested against the act. She would doubtless have done 
more than protest but for her financial and military weakness 
arising from the then recent Russo-Japanese War. In 1914 she was 
much stronger in both these elements of national power and lost 
not a day in preparing to march to Servia's aid. 

But was this the whole, or indeed the chief, moving impulse 
in Russia's action? Was she so eager an advocate of Pan-Slavism 
as such a fact would indicate? Had she not some other purpose 
in view, some fish of her own to fry, some object of moment to 
obtain? Many thought so. They were not willing to credit the 
Russian bear with an act of pure international benevolence. Wars 
of pure charity are rarely among the virtuous acts of nations. 
As it had been suggested that Germany saw in the war a possible 
opportunity to gain a frontier on the Atlantic, so it was hinted that 
Russia had in mind a similar frontier on the Mediterranean. Time 



44 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

and again she had sought to wring Constantinople from the hands 
of the Turks. In 1877 she was on the point of achieving this 
purpose when she was halted and turned back by the Congress 
of Berlin and the bellicose attitude of the nations that stood 
behind it. 

Here was another and seemingly a much better opportunity. 
The Balkan War had almost accomplished the conquest of the 
great Turkish capital and left Turkey in a state of serious weak- 
ness. If Europe should be thrown into the throes of a general war, 
in which every nation would have its own interests to care for, 
Russia's opportunity to seize upon the prize for which she had so 
long sought was an excellent one, there being no one in a position 
to say her nay. To Russia the possession of Constantinople was 
like the possession of a new world, and this may well have been 
her secret motive in springing without hesitation into the war. 
Her long-sought prize hung temptingly within reach of her hand, 
the European counterpart of the "Monroe Doctrine" could not 
now be evoked to stay her grasp, and it seems highly probable 
that in this may have lain the chief cause of Russia's participation 
in the War. 

France's hatred of Germany 

The Repubhc of France was less hasty than Russia and Ger- 
many in issuing a declaration of war. Yet there, too, the order of 
mobiHzation was quickly issued and French troops were on the 
march toward the German border before Germany had taken a 
similar step. France had not forgotten her humihation in 1870. 
So far was she from forgetting it that she cherished a vivid recol- 
lection of what she had lost and an equally vivid enmity towards 
Germany in consequence. Enmity is hardly the word. Hatred 
better fits the feeling entertained. And this was kept vitally 
ahve by the fact that Alsace and Lorraine, two of her former 
provinces, still possessing a considerable French population, were 
now held as part of the dominions of her enemy. The sore 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 45 

rankled and hope of retribution lay deep in the heart of the French. 
Here seemed an opportunity to achieve this long-cherished pur- 
pose, and we may reasonably beheve that the possibility of regain- 
ing this lost territory made France eager to take part in the coming 
war. She had been despoiled by Germany, a valued portion of 
her territory had been wrested from her grasp, a promising chance 
of regaining it lay before her. She had the men; she had the 
arms; she had a military organization vastly superior to that of 
1870; she had the memory of her former triumphs over the now 
alHed nations of Austria and Germany; she had her obHgations 
to aid Russia as a further inducement. The causes of her taking 
part in the war are patent, especially in view of the fact that in a 
very brief interval after her declaration her troops had crossed the 
border and were marching gaily into Alsace, winning battles and 
occupying towns as they advanced. 

GREAT BRITAIN AND ITALY 

We have suggested that in the case alike of Austria, Russia, 
Germany and France the hope of gaining valuable acquisitions of 
territory was entertained. In the case of France, enmity to Ger- 
many was an added motive, the territory she sought being land, 
of which she had been formerly despoiled. These purposes of 
changing the map of Europe did not apply to or influence Great 
Britain. That country had no territory to gain and no great 
miUtary organization to exercise. She possessed the most power- 
ful navy of any country In the world, but she was moved by no 
desire of showing her strength upon the sea. There was no reason, 
so far as any special advantage to herself was concerned, for her 
taking part in the war, and her first step was a generous effort 
to mediate between the Powers in arms. 

Only when Belgium — a small nation that was in a sense under 
the guardianship of Great Britain, so far as its nationahty and 
neutrahty were concerned — ^was invaded by Germany without 
warning, did Britain feel it incumbent upon her to come to its aid. 



46 UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 

This may not have been entirely an act of benevolence. There 
was a probability that Germany, once in control of Belgium, 
would not readily let go. She might add it to her empire, a 
fact likely to seriously affect British sea-power. However 
this be, Great Britain ^lost no time after the invasion in be- 
coming a party to the continental war, sending her fleet abroad 
and enhsting troops for service in the aid of her alHes, France and 
Belgium. 

Italy, a member of the Triple AlUance, the other members of 
which were Germany and Austria, was the only one of the great 
Powers that held aloof. She had absolutely nothing to gain by 
taking part in the war, while her late large expenses in the con- 
quest of TripoU had seriously depleted her war chest. As regards 
her alhance with Germany and Austria, it put her under no obliga- 
tion to come to their aid in an offensive war. Her obligation was 
restricted to aid in case they were attacked, and she justly held 
that no such condition existed. As a result, Germany and Austria 
found themselves at war with the three powerful members of the 
Tri'ple Entente, while Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance, 
declined to draw the sword. 

The defection of Italy was a serious loss to the power of the 
allies, so much so that Emperor WiUiam threatened her with 
war if she failed to fulfil her assumed obhgations. This threat 
Italy quietly ignored. She gave indications, in fact, that her 
sympathies were with the opposite party. Thus Germany and 
Austria found themselves pitted against three great Powers and a 
possible fourth, with the addition of the two small nations of 
Servia and Belgium. And the latter were not to be despised as 
of neghgible importance. Servia quickly showed an abihty 
to check the forward movements of Austria, while Belgium, 
without aid, long held a powerful German army at bay, 
defending the city and fortresses of Liege with a boldness 
and success that called forth the admiring acclamations of the 
worldo 



UNDERLYING CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR 47 

THE TKIPLE ALLIANCE AND TRIPLE ENTENTE 

This review of causes and motives may be supplemented by 
a brief statement of what is meant by the Triple AlHance and Triple 
Entente, terms which come into common prominence in discussing 
European poUtics. They indicate the division of Europe, so far 
as its greater Powers are concerned, into two fully or partially 
allied bodies, the former consisting of Germany, Austria and Italy, 
the latter of Great Britain, France and Russia. These organiza- 
tions are of comparatively recent date. The Alliance began in 
1879 in a compact between Germany and Austria, a Dual Alliance, 
which was converted into a Triple one in 1883, Italy then, through 
the influence of Bismarck, joining the alHance. In this compact 
Austria and Germany pledged themselves to mutual assistance 
if attacked by Russia; Italy and Germany to the same if attacked 
by France. 

The Triple Entente — or Understanding — arose from a Dual 
AlHance between France and Russia, formed in 1887, an informal 
understanding between Britain and France in 1904 and a similar 
imderstanding between Britain and Russia in 1907. Its purpose, 
as formed by Edward VII, was to balance the Triple Alliance and 
thus convert Europe into two great miliitary camps. When organ- 
ized there seemed Httle probability of its being called into activity 
for many years. 




CHAPTER in 
Strength and Resources of the "Warring Powers 

Old and New Methods in War — Costs of Modern Warfare — Nature of National 

Resources — British and American Military Systems — Naval Strength — ^Resources of 

Austria-Hungary — ^Resources of Germany — Resources of Russia — Resources of France — 

Resoiu-ces of Great Britain — Servia and Belgium 

'ITHIN the whole history of mankind the nations of the 
earth had never been so thoroughly equipped for the 
art of warfare as they were in 1914. While the arts of 
construction have enormously developed, those of destruction have 
fully kept pace with them; and the horrors of war have enormously 
increased side by side with the benignities of peace. It is interesting 
to trace the history of warfare from this point of view. Beginning 
with the club and hammer of the stone age, advancing through the 
bow and arrow and the sling-shot of later times, this art, even in 
the great days of ancient civilization, the eras of Greece and Rome, 
had advanced httle beyond the sword and spear, crude weapons 
of destruction as regarded in our times. They have m great part 
been set aside as symbols of mihtary dignity, emblems of the 
"pomp and circumstance of glorious war." 

Descending through the Middle Ages we find the sword and 
spear still holding sway, with the bow as an important accessory 
for the use of the common soldier. As for the knight; he became an 
iron-clad champion, so incased in steel that he could fight effectively 
only on horseback, becoming largely helpless on foot. At length, 
the greatest stage in the history of war, the notable invention 
of gunpowder was achieved, and an enormous transformation 
took place in the whole terrible art. The musket, the rifle, the pistol, 
the cannon were one by one evolved, to develop in the nineteenth 
ceniury into the breech-loader, the machine gun, the bomb, and the 

^ (48) 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 49 

multitude of devices fitted to bring about death and destruction 
by wholesale, instead of by the retail methods of older days. 

At sea, the sailing vessel, with her far-flimg white wings and 
rows of puny guns, has given way to the steel-clad battleship 
with her fewer but enormously larger cannons, capable of flinging 
huge masses of iron many miles through the air and with a precision 
of aim that seems incredible for such great distances. 

We must add to this the torpedo boat, a tiny craft with a weapon 
capable of sinking the most costly and stupendous of battleships, 
and the submarine, fitted to creep imseen under blockading fleets, 
and deal destruction with nothing to show the hand that dealt 
the deadly blow. Even the broad expanse of the air has been made 
a field of warlike activity, with scouting airships flying above 
contending armies and signaling their most secret movements 
to the forces below. 

OLD AND NEW METHODS IN "WAR 

In regard to loss of life on the battle-field, it may be said that 
many of the wars of ancient times surpassed the bloodiest of those 
of modern days, despite the enormously more destructive weapons 
and implements now employed. When men fought hand to hand, 
and no idea of quarter for the defeated existed, entire armies were 
at times slaughtered on the field. In our days, when the idea of 
mercy for the vanquished prevails, this wholesale slaughter of 
beaten hosts has ceased, and the death Hst of the battle-field has 
been largely reduced by caution on the part of the fighters. With 
the feehng that a dead soldier is utterly useless, and a wounded 
one often worse than useless, as constituting an impediment, every 
means of saving life is utiHzed. Soldiers now fight miles apart. 
Prostrate, hidden, taking advantage of every opportunity of pro- 
tection, every natural advantage or artificial device, vast quantities 
of ammunition are wasted on the empty air, every baU that finds 
its quarry in human flesh being mayhap but one in hundreds that 
go astray. In the old-time wars actual hand-to-hand fighting took 



50 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

place. Almost every stroke told, every thrusting blade was 
directly parried or came back stained with blood. In modern wars 
fighting of this kind has ceased. A battle has become a matter 
of machinery. The strong arm and stalwart heart are replaced 
by the bullet-flinging machine, and it is a rare event for a man to 
know to whose hand he owes wound or death. Such, at least, 
was largely the case in the war between Russia and Japan in 1905. 
But in recent battles we read of hordes of soldiers charging up to 
the muzzles of machine guns, and being mowed down like 
ripened wheat. 

COSTS OF MODERN WABFARE 

But while loss of human life in war has not greatly increased, 
in other directions the cost of warfare has enormously grown. 
In the past, livtle special preparation was needed by the fighter. 
Armies could be recruited off-hand from city or farm and do vaUant 
duty in the field, with simple and cheap weaj^ons. In our days 
years of preliminary preparation are deemed necessary and the costs 
of war go on during times of profound peace, milhons of men who 
could be used effectively in the peaceful industries spending the 
best years of their lives in learning the most effective methods of 
destroying their fellow men. 

This is only one phase of the element of cost. Great work- 
shops are devoted to the preparation of mihtary material, of abso- 
lutely no use to mankind except as instruments of destruction. 
The costs of war, even in times of peace, are thus very large. But 
they increase in an enormous proportion after war has actually 
begun, milhons of dollars being needed where tens formerly sufficed, 
and national bankruptcy threatening the nation that keeps its armies 
long in the field. The American Civil War, fought half a century 
ago, was a costly procedure for the American people. If it had been 
fought five or ten years ago its cost would have been increased 
five-fold, so great has been the progress in this terrible art in the 
interval. 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 51 

NATURE OF NATIONAL RESOURCES 

It is our purpose in the present chapter to take up the subject 
of this cost and review the condition and resources of the several 
nations which were involved in the dread internecine struggle 
of 1914, the frightful conflict of nations that moved like a great 
panorama before our eyes. These resources are of two kinds. 
One of them consists in the material wealth of the nations concerned, 
the product of the fields and factories, the mineral treasures beneath 
the soil, the results of trade and commercial activity and the con- 
ditions of national finance, including the extent of available revenue 
and the indebtedness which hangs over each nation, much of it 
a heritage from former wars which have left little beyond this aggra- 
vating record of their existence. It is one which adds something 
to the cost of every particle of food consumed by the people, every 
shred of clothing worn by them. Additions to this incubus of debt 
little disturb the rulers when blithely or bitterly engaging in new 
wars, but every such addition adds to the burdens of taxation laid 
on the shoulders of the groaning citizens, and is sure to deepen 
the harvest of retribution when the time for it arrives. 

A second of these resources is that of preparation for war in 
time of peace, the training of the able-bodied citizens in the military 
art, until practically the entire nation becomes converted into a 
vast army, its members, after their term of compulsory service, 
engaging in ordinary labors in times of peace, yet liable to be called 
into the field whenever the war lords desire, to face the death- 
belching field piece and machine gun in a sanguinary service in 
which they have little or no personal concern. This preparedness, 
with the knowledge of the duties of a soldier which it involves, 
is a valuable war resource to any nation that is saddled with such 
a system of universal military training. And few nations of Europe 
and the East are now without it. Great Britain is the chief one in 
Europe, while in America the United States is a notable example 
of a nation that has adopted the opposite policy, that of keeping 
its population at peaceful labor, steadily adding to its resources, 



52 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

during the whole time in which peace prevails, and trusting to the 
courage and mental resources of its citizens to teach them quickly 
the art of fighting when, if ever, the occasion shall arrive. 

It must be admitted that the European system of militarism 
is likely to be of great advantage in the early days of a war, in which 
large bodies of trained soldiers can be hurled with destructive force 
against hastily gathered miUtia. The distinction between trained 
and imtrained soldiers, however, rapidly disappears in a war of 
long continuance. Experience in the field is a lesson far superior 
to any gained in mock warfare, and the taking part in a few battles 
will teach the art of warfare to an extent surpassing that of years 
of marching and counter-marching upon the training field. 

BRITISH AND AMERICAN MILITARY SYSTEMS 

Britain and the United States, the only two of the greater 
nations that have adopted the poHcy here considered, are not 
trusting completely to chance. Each of them has a body of 
regular troops, fitted for poUce duty in time of peace and for field 
duty in time of war, and serving as a nucleus fitted to give a 
degree of coherence to raw mihtia when the sword is drawn. Sub- 
sidiary to these are bodies of volunteer troops, training as a recrea- 
tion rather than as an occupation, yet constituting a valuable 
auxihary to the regular forces. This system possesses the ad- 
vantage of maintaining no soldiers except those kept in constant 
and needful duty, all the remaining population staying at their 
regular labors and adding very materially every year to the resources 
of the nation, while saving the great sums expended without ade- 
quate return in the process of keeping up the system of mihtarism. 

What is above said refers only to the human element in the 
system. In addition is the necessity of preparing and keeping in 
store large quantities of war material — cannons, rifles, ammuni- 
tion, etc. — the building of inland forts and coast and harbor forti- 
fications, for ready and immediate use in time of war. In this all 
the nations are alike actively engaged, the United States and 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 53 

Britain as well as those of the European continent, and none of 
them are likely to be caught amiss in this particular. Cannon 
and gunpowder eat no food and call for no pay or pension, and 
once got ready can wait with little loss of efficiency. They may, 
indeed, become antiquated through new invention and develop- 
ment, and need to be kept up to date in this particular. But 
otherwise they can be readily kept in store and each nation may 
with comparative ease maintain itseK on a level with others as 
regards its supply of material of war. 

NAVAL STRENGTH 

In one field of war-preparation little of the distinction, 
indicated exists. This is that of ocean warfare, in which rivalry 
between the great Powers goes on without restriction — at least 
between the distinctively maritime nations. In this field of effort, 
the building of gigantic battleships and minor war vessels, 
Britain has kept itseK in advance of all others, as a nation in which 
the sea is likely to be the chief field of warlike activity. Beginning 
with a predominance in war ships, it has steadily retained it, add- 
ing new and constantly greater war ships to its fleet with a feverish 
activity, under the idea that here is its true field of defense. It 
has sought vigorously to keep itself on a level in this particular 
with any two of its rivals in sea power. While it has not quite 
succeeded in this, the United States and Germany pushing it 
closely, it is well in the lead as compared with any single Power, 
and to keep this lead it is straining every nerve and fiber of its 
national capacity. 

RESOURCES OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY i 

Comiag now to a statement of the strength and resources 
of the chief Powers concerned in the present war, Austria-Hungary, 
as the originator of the outbreak, stands first. It is scarcely neces- 
sary to repeat that its severe demands upon Servia, arising from 
the murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and its refusal to accept 



54 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

Servia's almost complete acceptance of its terms, led to an immedi- 
ate declaration of war upon the small offending state, the war fever 
thus started quickly extending from side to side of the continent. 
Therefore in considering the existing conditions of the various coun- 
tries involved, those of Austria-Hungary properly come first, the 
others following in due succession. 

Austria-Hungary is a dual kingdom, each partner to the 
union having its separate national organization and legislative body. 
While both are under the rule of one monarch, Francis Joseph 
being at once the Emperor of Austria and the King of Hungary, 
their union is not a very intimate one. There is large racial dis- 
tinction between the two countries, and Hungary cherishes a 
strong feehng of animosity to Austria, the outcome of acts of 
tyranny and barbarity not far in the past. 

The two countries closely approach each other in area, Austria 
having 115,903 and Hungary 125,039 square miles; making a 
total of 240,942. The populations also do not vary largely, the 
total being estimated at about 50,000,000. Of these the Slavs 
number more than 24,000,000, approaching one haK the total, 
while of Germans there are but 11,500,000, little more than half 
the Slavic population. The Magyars, or Hungarians, a people 
of eastern origin, and the main element of Hungarian population, 
number about 8,750,000. In addition there are several milHons 
of Roumanian and Italic stock, and a considerable number of 
Jews and Gypsies. The inclusion of this heterogeneous population 
into one kingdom dates far back in medieval history, and it was 
not until 1867, as a consequence of a vigorous Hungarian demand, 
that Austria and Hungary became divided into separate nations, 
the remnant of their former close union remaining in their being 
ruled by one monarch, the venerable Francis Joseph, who is still 
upon the throne. This division quickly followed the war between 
Prussia and Austria in 1866, and was one of the results of the 
defeat of Austria in that war. 

Austria is a hilly or mountainous country, its plains occupying 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 55 

only about one fifth of the total territory. The most extensive 
tracts of low or flat land occiu* in Hungary, Galicia and Slavonia, 
the great Hungarian plain having an area of 36,000 square miles. 
Much of this is highly fertile, and Hungary is the great granary of 
the country. Austria-Hungary is well watered by the Danube and 
its tributaries and has a small extent of sea-coast on the Adriatic, 
its principal ports being Trieste, Pola and Fiume. Its railways 
are about 30,000 miles in length. In consequenofe of its interior 
position its largest trade is with Germany, through which empire 
there is also an extensive transit commerce. Its mountainous 
character makes it rich in minerals, the chief of these being coal, 
iron, and salt. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, formerly part of Turkey in Europe, 
were put under the mihtary occupation and administrative rule 
of Austria after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-8, and in 1908 
were fully annexed by Austria, an act of spoHation which had its 
ultimate result in the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, 
and may thus be considered the instigating agency in the 1914 war. 

The finances of Austria-Hungary may be briefly given. Austria 
has an annual revenue of $636,909,000; Hungary of $410,068,000; 
their expenditure equaling these sums. The debt of Austria is 
stated at $1,433,511,000; of Hungary, $1,257,810,000; and of the 
joint states at $1,050,000,000. Military service is obligatory on 
all over twenty years of age who are capable of bearing arms, 
the total terms of service being twelve years, of which three are 
passed in the line, seven in the reserve, and two in|^the Landwehr. 
The army is estimated to number 390,000 on the peace footing 
and over 2,000,000 on the war footing. Its navy nimibers four 
modern and nine older battleships, with twelve cruisers and a num- 
ber of smaller craft. 

RESOUECES OF GERMANY 

Germany, in the census of 1910, was credited with a popu- 
lation of 64,925,993. This is in great part composed of Teutons, 



56 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

or men of German race, its people being far less heterogeneous 
than those of Austria, though it includes several milKons of Slavs, 
Lithuanians, Poles and others. It has an area of 208,738 square 
miles. It is mountainous in the south and center, but in the 
north there is a wide plain extending to the German Ocean and the 
Baltic Sea, and forming part of the great watershed which stretches 
across Europe. Its soil, except in the more rugged and moun- 
tainous districts, is prolific, being v/ell watered and bearing abun- 
dant crops of the ordinary cereals. Potatoes, hemp and flax are 
very abundant crops and the sugar beet is extensively cultivated. 
The forests are of great extent and value, and are carefully con- 
served to yield a large production without over cutting. Among 
domestic animals, the cattle, sheep and swine of certain districts 
have long been famous. 

The minerals are munerous and some of them of much value, 
those of chief importance being coal, iron, zinc, lead and salt. 
While much attention is given to mining and agriculture, the 
manufactiu-ing industries are especially important. Linens and 
other textiles are widely produced and iron manufactiu-e is largely 
carried on. The Krupp iron works at Essen are of world-wide 
fame, and the cannon made there are used in the forts of many 
distant nations. 

These are a few only of the large variety of manufactures, 
a market for which is found in all parts of the world, the com- 
merce of Germany being widely extended. In short, the empire 
has come into very active rivalry with Great Britain in the develop- 
ment of commerce, and to its progress in this direction it owes 
much of its flourishing condition. Hambiu-g is by far the most 
important seaport, Bremen, Stettin, Danzig and others also 
being thriving ports. The total length of railway is over 40,000 
miles. 

The annual revenue of the German Empire is nearly $900,000,- 
000; that of its component states, $1,500,000,000. The debt of 
the empire is estimated at $1,180,000^000; that of the states at 




THE 48TH HIGHLANDERS OF TORONTO ENTRAHflWC- FOR 
VALCARTIER 

Last farewells to Toronto's brave boys off on the first stage of their journey to 
the front. 




CANADIAN FIRST CONTINGENT SAILS FOR ENGLAND 



The photo shows part of the serious business of moving an army division. Guns 
and baggage of the Field Artillery being loaded on the troopship "Saxonia." 




PREMIER BORDEN INSPECTS SECOND CONTINGENT 

With Major- General F. L. Lessard, Inspector General of the forces in Eastern 
Canada, and Major H. C. Beckford, General Staff Officer of the Second Area with 
headquarters at Toronto. The Premier is seen on his round of inspection. 




Courtesy of the C. N. Railway. 

LINES OF INFANTRY BATTALION THREE MILES LONG 

Regulation army tents such as house the thousands of Canada's soldiers in the 
greatest camp in the world at Valcartier. 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 57 

$3,735,000,000. The revenue is derived chiefly from customs duties, 
excise duties on beet-root sugar, salt, tobacco and malt and contri- 
butions from the several states. 

Germany is the foster home of modern militarism and is held 
to have the most complete army system in the world. Every man 
capable of bearing arms must begin his miHtary training on the 
1st of January of the year in which he reaches the age of twenty, 
and continue it to the end of his forty-second year, unless released 
from this duty by the competent authorities, either altogether or 
for times of peace. 

Seven years of this time must be spent in the army or fleet; 
three of them in active service, four in the reserve. Seven more 
years are passed in the Landwehr, the members of which may be 
called out only twice for training. The remaining time is passed in 
the Landsturm, which is called out only in case of invasion of the 
empire. The total peace strength of the army is given at 870,000; 
of the reserves at 4,430,000; the total being 5,300,000. 

The naval force of Germany is very powerful, though con- 
siderably less than that of Great Britain, it comprises 19 of the 
enormous modem battleships, 7 cruiser battleships, and 20 of older 
type; 9 first-class and 45 second and third-class cruisers, and 
numerous smaller warships, including 47 torpedo boats, 141 destroy- 
ers and 60 submarines. 

EESOUKCES OF EUSSIA 

Russia, the third of the three nations to which the war was 
most immediately due, is the most extensive consoUdated empire 
in the world, its total area being estimated at 8,647,657 square 
miles, of which 1,852,524 are in Europe, the remainder in Asia. 
The population is given at about 160,000,000, of which 130,000,000 
are in Europe. 

Agriculture is the chief pursuit of this great population, though 
manufactures are largely developing. The forests, immense in 
extent, cover forty-two per cent of the area and contain timber in 



58 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

enormous quantities. WMIe a large part of the area is level ground 
there is much elevated territory, and the mineral wealth is very 
important. It includes gold, silver, platinum, iron, copper, coal 
and salt, all of large occurrence. Of the people, over 1,800,000 
are employed in manufacture, and the annual value of the commerce 
amounts to $1,300,000,000. The length of railway is about 50,000 
miles. 

Russia is heavily in debt, Germany being its largest creditor. 
The total debt is stated at $4,553,000,000, its revenue $1,674,000,000. 
The liability to military service covers all able-bodied men between 
the ages of twenty and forty-two years. Five years must be passed 
in active service, the remainder in the various reserves. On a 
peace footing the army is 1,290,000 strong; its war strength is 
5,500,000. The territorial service is capable of supplying about 
3,000,000 more, making a possible total of 7,500,000. As regards 
the navy, it was greatly reduced in strength in the war with Japan 
and has not yet fully recovered. The empire now possesses nine 
modem battleships, four cruiser battleships, and eight of old type. 
There are also cruisers and other vessels, including 23 torpedo 
boats, 105 destroyers, and 48 submarines. 

RESOURCES OF FRANCE 

France, the one large Power in Europe in which the people have 
created a republic and have got rid of the fact of a king, as illustrated 
in the other continental Powers, — and in addition to the mountain 
realm of Switzerland, in which the people govern themselves through 
their representatives, — has taken up the dogma of militarism in 
common with its neighbors and constitutes the fourth of the Powers 
in which this system has been carried to its ultimate conclusion of 
a world-wide war. 

France had a startling object lesson in 1870. It had, under 
Napoleon III, been imitating Prussia in its military establishment, 
and its government officials coincided with the emperor in the 
theory that its army was in a splendid state of preparation. Mar- 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 59 

shal Leboeuf lightly declared that "everything was ready, more 
than ready, and not a gaiter button missing," and it was with a 
light-hearted confidence that the Emperor Napoleon declared war 
against Prussia, the insensate multitude filling Paris with their 
futile war cry of ''On to Berlin." 

This is not the place to deal with this subject, but it may be 
said that France quickly learned that nothing was ready and the 
nation went down in the most sudden and awful disaster of modern 
times. A lesson had been taught, one not easy to forget. The 
Republic succeeded tjie Empire, and has since been worldng on the 
theor}^ that war with its old enemy might at any time become 
imminent and no negligence in the matter of preparation could be 
permitted. As a consequence, France went into the war of 1914 
in a state of fitness greatly superior to that of 1870, and Germany 
found France waiting on its border fine, alert and able, ready alike 
for offense or defense. 

What are the natural conditions, the strength and resources, 
of this great republic? France has an area of 207,054 square miles, 
almost the same as that of the German Empire. If its numerous 
colonies be added, its total area is over 4,000,000 square miles. But 
this vast colonial expanse is of no special advantage to it in a Euro- 
pean war. Its population is 39,601 ,509 ; if Algeria, its most available 
colony, be added, it is about 45,000,000, a total 20,000,000 less than 
the population of Germany. 

Its soil is highly fitted for agricultural use, about nine tenths 
of it being productive and more than half of it under the plow, 
the cereals forming the bulk of its products. Its wheat crop is 
large and oats, rye and barley are also of value, though the raising 
of the domestic animals is of less importance than in the surround- 
ing countries. The growth of the vine is one of its most important 
branches of agriculture, and in good years France produces about 
half of the total wine yield of the world. In mineral wealth it stands 
at a somewhat low level, its yield of coal, iron, etc., being of minor 
importance. 



60 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

France enjoys a large and valuable commerce and active 
manufacturing industries, products of a more or less artistic char- 
acter being especially attended to. Of the textile fabrics, those 
of silk goods are much the most important, this industry employ- 
ing about 2,000,000 persons and yielding more than a fourth in 
value of the whole manufactured products of France. Other 
products are carpets, tapestry, fine muslins, lace and cotton goods. 
Products of different character are numerous and their value large. 
The fisheries of France are also of much importance. Its com- 
merce, while large, is very considerably less than that of Great 
Britain and Germany, France being especially a seK-centered coun- 
try, largely using what it makes. 

There is abundant provision for internal trade and travel, 
there being 30,000 miles of railway, 3,000 miles of canal, and 
5,500 miles of navigable rivers. The annual revenue approaches 
$1,000,000,000, and the pubHc debt in 1914 was at the large total 
of over $6,200,000,000. This is much the largest debt of any 
nation in the world, the debt of Russia, which comes next in amount, 
being about $1,700,000,000 less. It is largely due to the cost of 
the war of 1870 and the subsequent large payment to Germany. 
Yet the French people carry it without feeliuig seriously over- 
burdened. 

Coming now to the French military system, it rivals that of 
Germany in efficiency. The law requires the compulsory mili- 
tary service of every French citizen who is not unfit for such 
service. They have to serve in the regular army for three years, 
in the regular reserves for six years, in the territorial army for 
six years, and finally in the reserves of this army for ten years. 
This gives France a peace strength of 720,000 and a total war 
strength of 4,000,000. The navy is manned partly by conscrip- 
tion, partly by voluntary enhstment, the naval forces comprising 
about 60,000 officers and men. 

The naval strength of the republic embraces 17 modern battle- 
ships, 25 of older type, 18 first-class, 13 second and third-class 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 61 

cruisers, 173 torpedo boats, 87 destroyers, and 90 submarines. There 
is another element of modern military strength of growing impor- 
tance, and sure to be of large use in the war imder review. This 
is that of the airship. ' In 1914 France stood at the head in this 
particular, its aeroplanes, built or under construction, numbering 
550. Germany had 375, Russia 315, Italy 270, Austria 220, 
Britam 180 and Belgium 150. In dirigible balloons Germany 
stood first, with 50. France had 30, Russia 15, Austria 10 and 
Britain 7. These air-soaring implements of war came into play> 
early in the conflict and Tennyson's vision of "battles in the blue" 
was realized in attacks of aeroplanes upon dirigibles, with death 
to the crews of each. 

RESOURCES OF GREAT BRITAIN 

Great Britain, the remaining party to the five-fold war of 
great European Powers, is an island country of considerably 
smaller area than those so far named. Including Ireland it has an 
area of 121,391 square miles, about equal to that of the American 
State of New Mexico and not half the size of the Canadian province 
of Saskatchewan. Its population, however, surpasses that of 
France, amounting to 45,221,615. If the outlying dominions 
of Great Britain be added it becomes the greatest empire in the 
world's history, its colonial dominions being estimated at over 
13,000,000 square miles, and the total population of kingdom and 
colonies at 435,000,000, the greatest population of any country in 
the world. And Britain differs from France in the fact that much 
of this outlying population is available for war purposes in case 
of peril to the liberties of the mother country. At the outbreak of 
the war of 1914 the loyal Dominion of Canada sprang at once into 
the field, mobilized its forces, and offered the mother land material 
aid in men and gifts of varied nature. 

The same sense of loyalty was shown in Australia and South 
Africa and in others of the British oversea dominions, while India 
added an important contingent to the army and much other aid. 



62 STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 

As for the immediate kingdom, it is not of high value in 
agricultural wealth, being at present divided up to a con- 
siderable extent into largeunproductive estates, and it is quite 
unable to feed its teeming population, depending for this on its 
large commerce in food products. Its annual imports amount to 
about $3,000,000,000, its exports to $2,250,000,000. 

Commercially and industrially alike Great Britain stands at 
the head of all European nations. Its abundant mineral wealth, 
especially in coal and iron, has stimulated manufactures to the 
highest degree, while its insular character and numerous seaports 
have had a similar stimulating effect upon commerce. Its revenue, 
aside from that of the colonies, amoimts to about $920,000,000 
annually, and its pubhc debt reaches a total of $3,485,000,000. 

The British government depends largely for safety from 
invasion upon its insular position and its enormously developed 
navy, and has not felt it necessary to enter upon the frenzy of 
mihtary preparation which pervades the continental nations. 
No British citizen is obhged to bear arms except for the defense of 
his country, but all able-bodied men are liable to militia service, 
the militia being raised, when required, by ballot. Enlistment 
among the regulars is either for twelve years' army service, or for 
seven years' army service and five years' reserve service. The 
peace strength of the army is estimated at about 255,000 men, the 
reserves at 475,000; making a total of 730,000. 

It is in its navy that Great Britain's chief warlike strength 
exists, the naval force being much greater than that of any other 
nation. It possesses in all 29 modem battleships, many of them 
o^ the great dreadnaught and super-dreadnaught type. In addi- 
tion it has 10 cruiser battleships, and 38 older battleships, most of 
the latter likely to be of little service for warlike duty. There are 
also 45 first-class, and 70 second and third-class cruisers, 58 torpedo 
boats, 212 destroyers and 85 submarines, the whole forming a 
total naval strength approaching that of any two of the other 
Powers, 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 63 

SERVTA AND BELGIUM 

As regards the remaining nations engaged in the war, Servia, 
in which the contest began, has an area of 18,782 square miles, a 
population of 4,000,000, and a standing army of 240,000, a number 
seemingly very inadequate to face the enormously greater power 
of Austria-Hungary. But the men had become practically all 
soldiers, very many of them tried veterans of the recent Balkan 
War; their coimtry is mountainous and admirably fitted for defen- 
sive warfare, and their power of resistance to invasion was quickly 
shown to be great. 

Belgium, the other early seat of the war, is still smaller in area, 
having but 11,366 square miles. But it is very densely populated, 
possessing 7,432,784 inhabitants. Its army proved brave and 
capable, its fortifications modern and well adapted to defense, and 
small as was its field force it held back the far more numerous 
German invaders until France and Great Britain had their troops 
in position for available defense. This small intermediate kingdom 
therefore played a very important part in the outset of the war. 

If one judges by the figures given of the available military 
strength of the nations involved, the huge host said to have 
followed Xerxes to the invasion of Greece could easily be far sur- 
passed in modern warfare. The fact is, however, that these huge 
figures greatly exceed the numbers that could, except in the most 
extreme exigency, be available for use in the field, and for real 
active service we should be obliged to greatly reduce these paper 
estimates. It must be taken into account that the fields and 
factories of the nations cannot be too greatly denuded of their 
trained workers. It was a shrewd saying of Napoleon Bonaparte 
that "An army marches on its stomach," and the important duty 
of keeping the stomach adequately filled can not be overlooked. 

In actual war also there is an enormous exhaustion of military 
material, which must be constantly replaced, and this in turn 
demands the services of great numbers of trained artisans. The 
question of fijiance also cannot be overlooked. It needs vast 



"^ 



NUMERICAL UNITS OF STANDING ARMIES 



In order to inform the reader about the size of the various eub-divisions 
of foreign armiea, a table which gives as accurately as possible the number 
of men and the composition of such divisions follows: 

GERMANY 
Army Corps — Its staff, 2 infantry divisions, 2 regiments of field artillery, 
3 squadrons of cavalry, a company of pioneers, a bridge train, field bakeries, 
telegraph troops, field hospital, etc., one or two batteries of heavy field howitzers 
or mortars and a machine gun group. Total, 40,000 men. Infantry Division — 
Two brigades. Total, 12,000 men. Brigade — Two regiments. Total, 6,000 
men. Regiment — Three battalions of 4 companies each. Total, 3,000 men. 
Battalion — Four companies of 250 men each. Total, 1,000 men. Regiment 
of Field Artillery — Nine batteries of field guns and 3 of field howitzers; 72 pieces. 
Battery — Six guns. Brigade of Cavalry — Two and occasionally three regiments. 
Total, 1,600 to 2,400 men. Regiment of Cavalry — Four squadrons of 200 men 
each. Total, 800 men. 

FRANCE 

Army Corps — Two infantry divisions, 1 brigade of cavalry, 1 brigade of 
horse and foot artUlery, 1 engineers' battahon, 1 squadron of train. Total, 
40,000 men. Infantry Division — Two brigades of infantry, 1 squadron of cavalry, 
12 batteries. Total, 12,000 men and 48 guns. Brigade — Two regiments of 3 
battalions each. Total, 6,000 men. Regiment — Three battahons of 4 companies 
each. Total, 3,000 men. Battalion — Four companies of 250 men each. Total 
1,000 men. Cavalry Division — Two and sometimes three brigades; 3,200— i,800 
men. Brigade of Cavalry — Two regiments of 8 squadrons, with 2 batteries of 
artillery. Regiment of Cavalry — Four squadrons; 800 men. Squadron of Cavalry 
— ^Two hundred men. Battery of Artillery — Six guns. 

GREAT BRITAIN 

Brigade of Infantry — ^Four battahons and administrative and medical 
units. Total, 4,000 men. Cavalry Brigade — Two regiments of 4 squadrons each. 
Total, 800 men. Brigade of Artillery — Three batteries, 18 guns; heavy artillery, 
12 guns; field howitzers, 2 batteries; horse artillery, 2 batteries. Battery — Six 
guns. Division — Fifty-four gims, 12 howitzers and 4 heavy field guns; 15.000 
combatants. 

RUSSIA 

Army Corps — Thirty-six thousand men. Army Corps with Cavalry Division 
— ^Forty thousand men. Cavalry Division— Foxa theusand men. Battalion 
of Infantry — Eight hundred men. Squadron of Cavalry — One hundred and 
twenty-five men. Battery of Artillery — Eight guns. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 

Army Corps — ^Two infantry divisions, 1 regiment of field artillery, 1 pioneer 
battalion, 1 bridging corps. Total, 34,000 men. Infantry Division — ^Twelve 
thousand men. Cavalry Division — Four thousand men. Artillery Brigade — 
Ten battalionsv 6 guns each. 




GREAT BRITAIN' 

A graphic showing of the size and formidableness of the li 
among Eiiropean powers. 




AT SPITHEAD 

T, which holds superiority both as to strength and efficiency 




a. 



M 

CO c 

o 



w 



STRENGTH AND RESOURCES OF POWERS 65 

sums of money to keep a modem army in the field, this increasing 
rapidly as the forces grow in nmnbers, and no national treasure 
chest is inexhaustible. Tax as they may, the war lords cannot 
squeeze out of their people more blood than flows in their veins, 
and exhaustion of the war-chest may prove even more disastrous 
than exhaustion of the regiments. For these reasons a limit to the 
size of armies is inevitable and in any great war this limitation 
must quickly make itself apparent. 




CHAPTER IV 
Great Britain and the War 

The Growth of German Importance — German Militarism— Great Britain's Peace 
Efforts — Germany's Naval Program — German Ambitions — ^Preparation for War — 

Effect on the Empire. 

^HE influence of the European War permeated everything 
from and through the nation to the individual, from trade 
and commerce and world-finance to the cost of food and 
the price of labor. The whole world, civihzed and uncivilized, 
was drawn into this whirlpool of disaster — the majority of the 
population of the earth was actually at war. Was it possible 
that such a vast conflict — so far reaching in its racial and national 
elements, so bitter in its old and new animosities, so great in its 
territorial area, so tremendous in the numbers of men in arms- 
could come, as some commentators say, like a thief in the night 
or have fallen upon the world like a bolt from the blue! All avail- 
able information of an exact character, all the preparation of the 
preceding few years, all the inner statecraft of the world as revealed 
in policy and action, prove the fallacy of this supposition. 

THE GROWTH OF GERMAN IMPORTANCE 

As a matter of fact one nation had been for nearly half a 
century the pivot upon which European hopes arid fears have 
turned in the matter of peace and war, of military and naval 
preparation, of diplomatic interchange. During this period Ger- 
many rose to a foremost place amongst the nations of Europe, 
to the first place in strength of military power and organized fight- 
ing force, to the second place in naval strength and commercial 
progress. The growth itself was a legitimate one in the main; 

(66) 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 67 

and, given the character of its people and their cultivated convic- 
tions as to inherent greatness, was inevitable. For other nations 
the vital question asked in diplomacy and answered in their mili- 
tary or naval preparations was equally inevitable: How would 
Geraiany use this power, against whom was it aimed, for what 
specific purpose was it being organized with such capable precision, 
such splendid skill? 

GERMAN MILITARISM 

Great Britain, meanwhile, had devoted her main attention to 
the trade and diplomacy and little wars associated with the main- 
tenance of a world-empire and, in self-defense, had cultivated 
friendships with Russia and France and the United States and 
Japan as this German power began to come closer and touch the 
most vital British interests. France naturally strengthened itself 
asHts historic enemy grew in power; Russia improved her mili- 
tary position after the Japanese war as she was bound to do; 
Germany appeared to set the pace upon sea and land with an 
aggressive diplomacy in Morocco and in China, at Paris and at 
St. Petersburg, which was bound to cause trouble and to promote 
what is commonly called militarism. The vast ambitions and 
persistent pohcy of the German ruler and his people, the unsatis- 
fied characteristics of German diplomacy, the militant ideals and 
military preparations and naval expansion of Germany between 
1900 and 1914 became the dominant consideration in the chan- 
celleries of Europe. Armies and navies, wars in the Balkans or 
struggles for colonial spheres of influence, financial reserves and 
naval construction and volunteer forces — all came to be measured 
against current developments in this center of European gravity. 

GREAT Britain's peace efforts 

Great Britain tried to hold aloof from this international 
rivalry, this preparation for a war which her people and leaders 
hoped against hope would be averted. Royal visits of a pacific 



68 GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 

character were exchanged, parties of Great Britain's business men 
visited BerUn, while leaders such as King Edward and Lord Hal- 
dane exercised all their ability in striving for some mutual ground 
of friendly action. Lovers of peace wrote many volumes and filled 
many newspapers with articles on the beneficence of that policy 
and the terrors of militarism — books and articles which were never 
seen in Germany except by those who regarded them as so many 
confessions of national weakness. Between 1904 and 1908 Great 
Britain actually reduced her naval expenditures and limited her 
construction of battleships in the hope that Germany would fol- 
low the lead, pleaded at two Hague Conferences for international 
reduction of armaments, kept away from all increase in her own 
almost ridiculous miUtary establishment, urged upon two occa- 
sions (in 1912-1913) a naval holiday in construction. The follow- 
ing figures from Brassey's authoritative Naval Annual shows that 
her naval expenditure upon new ships in 1913 was actually less 
than in 1904, that Germany's was nearly three times greater, 
that France and Russia and Italy had doubled theirs: 

Great Austro- 

Britain Germany France Russia Italy Hungary 

1904 £13,508,176 £4,275,489 £4,370,102 £4,480,188 £1,121,753 £1,329,590 

1908 8,660,202 7,795,499 4,193,544 2,703,721 1,866,158 716,662 

1911 17,566,877 11,710,859 5,876,659 3,240,394 2,677,302 3,125,000 

1912 17,271,527 11,491,157 6,997,552 7,904,094 2,500,000 3,620,881 

1913 13,276,400 11,176,407 7,595,010 10,953,616 2,800,000 3,280,473 

Germany's naval program 
Between 1909 and 1914 British leaders became convinced, as 
France and Russia and other countries had long been certain, that 
Germany meant war as soon as she was ready; that her policy 
was to take the two border enemies, or rivals, first with a great 
war-machine which would give them no chance for preparation or 
success, to dictate a peace which would give her control of the 
sea-coasts and channel touching Britain, to make that country 
the seat of war preparations, naval uncertainty, perhaps financial 
difiiculty and commercial injury, to prepare at leisure for the war 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 69 

which would conquer England and acquire her colonies. In the 
first-named year British statesmen of both parties told an amazed 
Parliament and country that German naval construction of big 
ships was approaching the British standard, that the cherished 
policy of a British navy equal to those of any two other nations 
was absolutely gone, that England would be lucky if, in a few 
years, she held a 60 per cent superiority over that of Germany 
alone, that the latter country's naval construction was clearly 
aimed at Britain and could be for no other than a hostile purpose. 
British ships had already been recalled from the Seven Seas to 
hold the North Sea against the growing naval power of a nation 
which had 5,000,000 soldiers behind its ships as compared with 
England's 250,000 men scattered over the world. From that day 
in 1909 all who shared in the statecraft of the British Empire 
understood the issue to be a real one — ^with France and Russia 
as allies or without them. 

What was back of this situation? Germany was already 
dominant in Continental Europe. It had compelled Russia to 
submit when Austria in 1908 annexed the Slav states of Bosnia 
and Herzegovina and defied Servia to interfere or its proud patron 
at St. Petersburg to prevent the hunailiation; it had brought 
France to her knees over the Morocco incident and the Delcasse 
resignation, and would have done so again in 1911 if Great Britain 
had not ranged herself behind the French Republic; it held the 
issues of peace and war between the great Powers during the Balkan 
struggles of 1912 and 1913 and prevented Servia from winning its 
legitimate fruits of victory or Montenegro from holding what it 
had won; it had watched with delight the defeat of unorganized 
Russia at the hands of Japan and saw what its writers described 
as a decadent British Empire holding in feeble hands a quarter 
of the earth in fee, with revolt coming in Ireland, rebellion seething 
in India, dissatisfaction in South Africa, separation upon the hori- 
zon in Canada and Australia. Here lay the secret of German 
naval policy, of German hopes that Britain would remain out of 



70 GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 

the inevitable struggle with France and Russia, of German ambi- 
tions for a world-empire. 

GERMAN AMBITIONS 

The German nation had not up to the passing of Bismarck 
been the enemy of the British people and until its belated entrance 
upon the field of world-politics and expansion the people had not 
even been rivals. In the long series of European wars between 
1688 and 1815, the German states were allies and friends of Eng- 
land. After that Prussia, and then the German Empire, became 
gradually a great national force in the world and its spirit of unity, 
pride of power, energy in trade, skill and success in industry, 
vigor of development in tariffs, progress in military power and 
naval construction were, from the standpoint of its own people, 
altogether admirable. Following the Franco-Prussian War it had 
steadily attained a position of European supremacy. Then came 
the increase of population and trade, the desire for colonies, the 
restriction of emigration to foreign countries. 

It was a natural though difficult ambition. The marriage of 
Queen Wilhelmina, and later the birth of an heir, averted any 
immediate probability of acquiring Holland and, with it, the Dutch 
colonial possessions, except by means of force. The assertion of 
the United States' Monroe Doctrine checked German efforts which 
had been directed to South America and concentrated in Brazil, 
where 100,000 Germans had settled and where trade relations had 
become very close. British diplomacy of a trade, as well as 
political character, in Persia, prevented certain railway schemes 
from being carried out, which would have given Germany a domi- 
nating influence in Asia Minor and on the Persian Gulf. Although 
the partition of Africa gave the German Empire nearly one million 
square miles and an obvious opening for colonization and power, 
the inexperience and ineptitude of German officials in Colonial 
government, the dislike, also, of Germans for emigration and the 
fact that the movement of settlers abroad steadily decreased in 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 71 

late years, tended to prevent, on that Continent, an expansion 
which would have been assured under British colonization and 
business effort. 

At the same time the acquisition of these and other regions 
such as Samoa was significant. Prior to 1870 Germany was a 
geographical expression which meant a loose combination of States 
with sometimes clashing interests, and incoherent expression, and 
varied patriotism. German trade was then small, the industries 
too poor to compete with those of Britain, while its people pos- 
sessed not an acre of soil beyond their European boundaries. 
Smce then it had become a closely-united people with an army of 
over five million men — admittedly the best trained troops in the 
world; with a trade totalling $4,400,000,000 and competing in 
Britain's home market, taking away her contracts in India and 
some of the Colonies, beating her in many foreign fields; with an 
industrial production which included great steel works such as 
Krupps, ship-building yards said to be of greater productive power 
than those of Britain, factories of well-kept character operating 
at high pressure with workmen trained in the best technical system 
of the world today; with other productive conditions aided by high 
protective duties and with exports totalling (1910) $2,020,000,000 
and imports of $2,380,000,000; with Savings Bank deposits in 1911 
totalling $4,500,000,000 as against a British total of $1,135,000,000. 

Couple these conditions with Colonial ambitions dwarfed, or 
unsuccessful in comparison with British success; continental power 
as supreme, by virtue of mihtary strength, as Napoleon's was one 
hundred years before by the force of genius, but hampered, as was 
his, by the power of Britain on the aeas; a productive force of in- 
dustry increasing out of all proportion to home requirements, com- 
peting with British commerce in every corner of the world and 
threatened by a possible but finally postponed combination of 
British countries in a system of inter-Empire tariffs; a population 
of 64,000,000, increasing at the rate of one million a year and 
having no suitable opening for emigration or settlement within its 



72 GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 

own territories; and we have conditions which explained and 
emphasized German naval construction. Both German ambi- 
tion and German naval construction were therefore easily com- 
prehensible. 

Nor was the ambition for sea-power concealed. The first 
large naval program was passed by the Reichstag in 1898 and 
fixed the naval estimate up to 1903, when the total expenditure 
was to be $45,000,000 — in 1906 the naval expenditure was over 
$60,000,000. The second Naval Bill was passed in 1900 during 
the Boer War, and the preamble to this Act stated that its object 
was to give Germany "a, fleet of such strength that even for the 
mightiest Naval Power, a war with her would involve such risks 
as to endanger its own supremacy." Other Acts were passed in 
1906 and 1908, and for the years 1908 to 1917 arrangements were 
made for a total expenditure of $1,035,000,000 — this including a 
portion of the "accelerated program" and the special Dreadnought 
construction which caused the memorable debate in the British 
Commons in 1909. 

The Law of 1912 — ^passing the Reichstag on May 21st of 
that year — ^provided for an addition to the program of three battle- 
ships, three large cruisers and three small ones. During the years 
1898-1904 Great Britain launched 26 battleships to Germany's 14, 
with 27 armored cruisers, 17 protected cruisers and 55 destroyers 
to Germany's 5, 16 and 35 respectively, or a total of 125 to 70. 
In 1905-11 Great Britain launched 20 battleships to Germany's 15, 
with 13 armored cruisers, 10 protected cruisers and 80 destroyers 
to Germany's 6, 16 and 70 respectively, or a total of 123 to 107. 
Excluding destroyers Great Britain launched 70 sea-going war- 
ships in the first period to Germany's 25 and in the second period 
43 to 37. 

PREPARATION FOR WAR 

Meanwhile German preparations for war went on apace in 
every direction. Following up the war teachings of Nietzsche and 




Couiiesy of the C. N. Railway. 

NEW WORLD'S RECORD IN BRIDGE BUILDING 

Across this 350-foot waterway the Royal Canadian Engineers built a barrel-pier 
pontoon bridge, capable of carrying heavy batteries, within four hours. 




CHURCH SERVICES AT TORONTO 

Members of Second Contingent attending Divine Worship in Transportation 
Building, Exhibition Grounds, Toronto. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 73 

Treitschke and others, General Von Bernhardi issued book after 
book defining in clear language the alleged national beneficence, 
biological desirability and inevitability of war, which, when it 
came, would be "fought to conquer for Germany the rank of a 
world-power;" the universities and schools and press teemed with 
militarist ideals and practices; the army charges rose to $250,- 
000,000 and the trained soldiers available at the beginning of 1910 
were alleged to have 6,000 field-guns; Colonel Gaedke, the German 
naval expert, stated on February 24th of that year that the German 
government was building a fleet of 58 battleships and that "the 
time is gradually approaching when the German fleet will be 
superior to all the fleets of the world, with the single exception 
of the English fleet," and that in the past twelve years Germany 
had spent on new ships alone £63,200,000, or $316,000,000, while 
between then and 1914 she would spend £57,500,000 more, or 
$287,500,000. 

The annual report of the German Navy League in 1910 showed 
a total of 1,031,339 members as against an estimated membership 
in Britain's League of 20,000. Professor T. Schieman of the 
University of Berlin, in the New York McClure's Magazine for 
May of that year, clearly stated that Germany would not submit 
in future to British naval supremacy or to any limitation of arma- 
ments. During this period, also, HeHgoland, the island handed 
over by Britam in 1890 in exchange for certain East African rights, 
became the key and center of the whole German coast defense 
system against England. Cuxhaven, Borkum, Emden, WiUielms- 
haven — ^with twice as many Dreadnought docks as Portsmouth — 
Wangeroog, Bremerhaven, Geestemiinde, etc., were magnificently 
fortified and guarded. Whether dictated by diplomatic considera- 
tions and affected latterly by the British-French alliance or in- 
fluenced by Colonial and naval and commercial ambitions, there 
could be no doubt as to the danger of the situation at the begin- 
ning of 1914. In a book entitled England and Germany, published 
during 1912, Mr. A. J. Balfour, the British conservative leader, 



74 GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 

replied to various German contributors and gave the British view 
of the situation : 

It must be remembered in the first place that we are a commercial 
nation, and war, whatever its issue, is ruinous to commerce and to the 
credit on which commerce depends. It must be remembered in the 
second place that we are a political nation, and unprovoked war (by us) 
would shatter in a day the most powerful Government and the most 
united party. It must be remembered in the third place that we are 
an insular nation, wholly dependent upon sea-borne supplies, possessing 
no considerable army, either for home defense or foreign service, and 
compelled therefore to play for very unequal stakes should Germany be 
our opponent in the hazardous game of war. It is this last consideration 
which I should earnestly ask enlightened Germans to weigh well if they 
would understand the British point of view. It can be made clear in a 
very few sentences. There are two ways in which a hostile country can 
be crushed. It can be conquered or it can be starved. If Germany were 
supreme in our home waters she could apply both methods to Britain. 
Were Britain ten times Mistress in the North Sea she could apply neither 
method to Germany. Without a superior fleet Britain would no longer 
count as a Power. Without any fleet at all Germany would remain the 
greatest power in Europe. 

The Balkan wars proved and strengthened the power of 
Germany in diplomacy and in the Eastern Question, while it showed 
that a deadly struggle between nations might spring to an issue in 
a few days and a million armed men leap into war at a word. 
The enormous German special taxation of $250,000,000 authorized 
in the first part of 1913 for an additional military establishment 
of 4,000 oflBcers, 15,000 non-commissioned officers and 117,000 men 
indicated the basic strength of the people's military. feeling, and 
ensured the still greater predominance of its army. 

EFFECT ON THE EMPIRE 

When war broke out on August 1, 1914, between the five 
greater Powers of Europe — Great Britain, Russia and France on 
the one side and Germany and Austria on the other — the issue 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 75 

was at once brought home to about 450 milhons of people in 
America, Asia and Africa who were connected with these nations 
by ties of allegiance or government, by racial association, or his- 
toric conquest. Of these peoples and lands by far the greater 
proportion were in the British Empire and included India, Burmah, 
South Africa, Australia, Canada and a multitude of smaller states 
and countries. Not the least remarkable of the events which 
ensued in the succeeding early weeks of the great War v/as the 
extraordinary way in which this vast and complex Empire found 
itself as a unit in fighting force, a unit in sentiment, a unit in 
co-operative action. Irish sedition, whether ''loyal or disloyal," 
Protestant or Catholic, largely vanished like the shadow of an evil 
dream; Indian talk of civil war and trouble disappeared; South 
African threats of rebellion took form in a feeble effort which melted 
away under the pressure of a Boer statesman and leader — General 
Botha; the idea that Colonial Dominions were seeldng separation 
and would now find it proved as evanescent as a light mist before 
the sun. The following table indicates the nature of the resources 
of opposing nations and the character of their Colonial sources of 
support: 

, Total Population 

Wealth Population Army Navy of Colonies 

Great Britain $80,000,000,000 45,000,000 800,000 681 368,000,000 

France 65,000,000,000 39,000,000 2,100,000 382 41,000,000 

Russia 40,000,000,000 171,000,000 8,000,000 249 5,000,000 

Germany 60,000,000,000 65,000,000 5,000,000 354 12,000,000 

Austria 25,000,000,000 49,000,000 2,200,000 155 15,000,000 

xt was a curious characteristic of the press comments and 
magazine articles and book studies of the War during these months 
that while varied fighting was going on in the various Colonies of 
these Powers and in the case of Great Britain, notably, countries 
like Canada, Austraha, New Zealand and India were pouring out 
men and gifts to aid the Empire, statistical calculations usually 
rated Great Britain as not an Empire but simply a nation with the 
wealth and population of its two little islands in the North Sea. 



76 GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 

Properly the $80,000,000,000 of estimated British wealth should 
have included the thousands of millions of treasure in India and 
Egypt, the gold mines and diamond resources of South Africa, the 
wheat fields and mines of Canada, the sheep farms and gold of 
Australia and many other sources; the estimate of population 
should have included the countless millions from which Britain 
could draw and did draw in the day of emergency. In this vast 
Empire British capital had been invested to an enormous amount 
—the estimated total in 1914 being $2,570,000,000 for Canada and 
Newfoundland, $1,893,000,000 in India and Ceylon, $1,850,000,000 
in South Africa, $1,660,000,000 in Australia, or a total in all British 
countries of $8,900,000,000. When the War broke out these 
Dominions endeavored to help the Mother Country in every pos- 
sible way and the following table shows what was done in Canada 
alone during the first few months of the conflict: 

The Dominion \ 

Expeditionary force of over 32,000 men, fully equipped; 50,000 others 

under training for the front. 
Over 200 field and machine guns. 
Two submarines, for general service ($1,050,000); H. M. C. S. Niohe and 

Rainbow for general service. 
1,000,000 bags of flour. 
$100,000 for "Hospice Canadien" in France. 
),0Q0 for the relief of Belgian sufferers. 



The Provinces 

Albeeta 500,000 bushels of oats; 5,000 bags of flour for 

Belgians. Civil service, 5 per cent of salaries 
up to $1500 per annum, and 10 per cent in 
excess of that amount to Canadian Patriotic 
Fund. 

British Columbia 25,000 cases of canned salmon; $5,000 to Bel- 
gian Refief Fund. 

Manitoba 10,000 men; 50,000 bags of flour; $5,000 to 

Belgian Relief Fund. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 77 

New Brunswick 1,000 men; 100,000 bushels of potatoes; 15,000 

barrels of potatoes for Belgium. 

Nova Scotia $100,000 to the Prmce of Wales Fund; apples 

for the troops; food and clothing for Belgium. 

Ontario $500,000; 250,000 bags of flour; 100,000 Iba 

of evaporated apples for the Navy; $15,000 
to the Belgian Relief Fund. 

Prince Edward Island . 100,000 bushels of oats; cheese and hay. 

Quebec 4,000,000 lbs. of cheese; $25,000 to Belgian 

Relief Fund. 

Saskatchewan 1,500 horses ($250,000) ; $5,000 to Belgian Relief 

Fund. 

The Yukon $6,000 to the Canadian Patriotic Fund. 

The Gities 

Ottawa $300,000 (for machine gun sections — 4 guns on 

armored motors and a detachment of 30 

men); $50,000 to the Canadian Patriotic 

Fund. 
Quebec $20,000 Canadian Patriotic Fund; insuring 

lives of Quebec volunteers. 
Montreal $150,000 (Canadian Patriotic Fund) ; battery 

of quick-firing guns; $10,000 to Belgian 

Relief Fund. 
Toronto $50,000 (Canadian Patriotic Fund) ; insuring 

lives of all Toronto volunteers; 100 horses 

for training purposes; carload for Belgians 

of canned provisions. 

Winnipeg $5,000 monthly to Patriotic Fund. 

Regina $1,000 for comfort of the city's soldiers; $62,500 

to Belgian Relief Fund. 

Calgary 1,000 men (Legion of Frontiersmen). 

Hamilton $20,000 Patriotic Fund; $5,000 for local relief. 

Berlin $10,000 Patriotic Fund. 

St. Johns, N. B $10,000 Patriotic Fund; $2,000 Belgian Fund. 

The Women of Canada 

Building, equipping and maintenance of "Canadian Women's Hospital" 
of 100 beds to supplement Naval Hospital at Haslar ($182,857). 



78 GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 

$100,000 to War Office (40 motor ambulance cars purchased). 
Women of Nova Scotia $15,170 ($7,000 to Hospital, $5,000 Canadian 
Patriotic Fund and rest to Red Cross). 

The Banks and the Patriotic Funds 

Bank of Montreal $110,000 

Canadian Bank of Commerce $50,000 

Royal Bank of Canada $50,000 

Merchants Bank $30,000 

Dominion Bank $25,000 

Union Bank of Canada $25,000 

Bank op Toronto $25,000 

Bank of Ottawa $25,000 

Bank of Nova Scotia $25,000 

Bank of Hamilton $25,000 

Bank of British North America $25,000 

Little Newfoundland sent a contingent of 510; placed a Naval 
Reserve force of 1,000 men in training and prepared a second con- 
tingent of 500 naen, while contributing $120,000 to a local Patriotic 
Fund. Australia handed over its fleet of battleships and cruisers 
to the Admiralty and one of these, The Sydney, captured the Emden 
of German fame, while the New Zealand, a dreadnought from the 
Island Dominion of that name, held a place in the North Sea fight- 
ing line. Austraha also sent 20,000 men who saw service before the 
end of the year in Egypt, provided reserves and prepared two 
more contingents, while sending donations of aU kinds of food 
supplies for the poor in Britain or for the Belgian refugees. From 
India at once went a portion of the British Army which was replaced 
by native troops and then a large contingent of the latter, which 
took part in the protection of Egypt and in the fighting in France. 

The great Princes of India — notably the Maharajahs of Nepaul, 
Gwalior, Patiala, Baratpur, Sikkim and Dholpur — placed the entire 
military resources of tens of milHons of people at the disposal of 't 
the King-Emperor. The Maharajah of Rewa cabled this splendid 
message: ''What orders from His Majesty for me and my troops?" 



GREAT BRITAIN AND THE WAR 79 

The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maharajah of Bikanir offered 
not only their troops, but the entire resources of their great states 
and their own personal services at the front. Bengal gave a 
miUion bags of jute for the army and the Maharajah of Mysore 
proffered 3,500 men and 50 lakhs of rupees (about $350,000). 
Practically all the 700 native rulers of states in India offered per- 
sonal services, men and money. For active personal service the 
Viceroy selected the Chiefs of Jodhpur, Bikanir, Kishangarh, Rut- 
lam, Sachin, Patiala, Sir Pertab Singh, Regent of Jodhpur, and 
others. Contingents of cavalry and infantry, supplies and trans- 
ports were forwarded besides a camel corps from Bikanir, horses 
from many states, machine guns, hospital-bed contributions, motor 
cars and large gifts to the Patriotic and Belgian Relief Fimds. 
New Zealand sent a first contingent of 8,000 troops and relief 
forces, prepared to send more and promised, Uke Canada and 
Australia, to continue training and sending troops as long as they 
should be required. On the other hand Great Britain undertook 
to finance the actual military operations of these countries by 
lending the four Dominions $210,000,000, and undertaldng to pro- 
vide more when needed. 

It was with this unity, and in this spirit, that the British 
Empire entered the great War for the redemption of its pledges 
to Belgium and adherence to its French obligations— Russia only 
coming indirectly into the first stage of the question and Japan, 
through the force of its Treaty, undertaking to guard British 
interests in the East. 



CHAPTER V 
The World^s Greatest War 

Wars as Mileposts — A Continent in Arms — How Canada Prepared for War — The 
British Sentiment — Lord Kitchener's Career — ^A Forceful Character. 

/^ I "^HE history of the leading events in the nations of Europe 
I during a hundred years of the past, so far as they related 
to the decline of autocratic power in the monarchs 
and the development of popular rights and Uberty, has been 
given in the preceding chapters, where it is brought down to the 
close of the Balkan War and the opening of the great war that 
succeeded in 1914. As regards this war, its story cannot be told 
or even summarized in a chapter, but some indication of its general 
character may be given. 

WAKS AS MILEPOSTS 

Wars serve as convenient mileposts in the history of man- 
kind. They deal with the great struggles which break up the 
monotony of peace and bring the nations into volcanic relations. 
They have been many and their causes and effects various; strifes 
for spoil or dominion; savage invasions of civihzed lands; over- 
flow of vast areas by conquering tribes or nations. But among 
all the world has so far known there has been none so stupendous 
in character, so portentous in purpose, so vast in fighting multi- 
tudes, so terrible in bloodshed, as the one with which we are here 
concerned, the liu-id meeting of the nations on the blood-stained 
fields of battle which broke upon the quiet of the world v/ith start- 
ling suddenness in the summer of 1914. Launched on the borders 
of little Servia, it soon had the continent for its field of action, 
and all but one of the greater nations of Europe for its participants. 

(80) 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 81 

It may therefore fitly be designated the Great War. Great it was, 
alike in the number and strength of the Powers involved, in the 
enormous array of armed men engaged, in the destructive power 
of the weapons employed, in the loss of life and waste of wealth 
that attended its earthquaking development. 

In reading the history of the past we find it thickly strewn 
with stories of fierce battles, a day, two days, rarely much longer 
in extent, protracted intervals of marching and countermarching 
succeeding before the armies again locked horns. Such was the 
case in the American Civil War, in which the three days^battle at 
Gettysburg was the greatest in length, if the six days' fighting 
before Richmond be taken to constitute a succession of battles. 

In the Russo-Japanese war much longer struggles took place. 
The armies at Liaoyung fought for eight days and those before 
Mukden for twenty days. But a more obstinate struggle still 
was that of September and October, 1914, when two armies, stretched 
out over a line two hundred miles or more in length, fought with 
ceaseless fury, by day and night alike, for more than a month. 
On the moving-picture screen of time this vast conflict stands out 
without parallel in the world's annals, the most unyielding, inces- 
sant battling ever known. 

A CONTINENT IN ARMS 

In the giant warfare here described we behold a continent, 
well nigh a world, in arms. Along the rivers north of Paris three 
powerful nations, Germany, France and Britain, wrestled like 
mighty behemoths for supremacy. Far eastward, on the borders 
of Russia, Austria and Germany, two other great Powers, Russia 
and Austria, with German armies to aid the latter, strove with 
equal fury for victory. 

Thus raged the Great War. How many took part it is diffi- 
cult to estimate. Among the war tales of the past the most 
stupendous army on record is that of Xerxes, said by Herodotus 
to number 2,317,600 men, who marched from Asia to face defeat 



82 THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 

in the diminutive land of Greece. How large this fabulously great 
army really was we shall never know, but even at the figures 
given it was dwarfed by the hosts in arms in the Great European 
War, in which between four and five million men fought with 
fierceness unsurpassed. 

The field of action of this mighty contest was not confined to 
Europe. On the far-off border of Asia another Power, the warhke 
empire of Japan, sent forth its soldiers to drive the Germans from 
China. In Africa and on the South Pacific the colonists of Britain 
set other forces in motion to invade the German colonial regions. 
From British India sailed a strong array of dark-skinned warriors 
to take part in the war in France. From Algeria and Senegal 
came hordes of sable recruits for the French army, and from the 
cities and provinces of the Dominion of Canada came still another 
army of ardent patriots eager to aid the forces of their fatherland. 
We may well speak of the contest as not one of a continent but 
of the entire world. 

HOW CANADA PREPARED FOR WAR 

The story of the patriotic ardor of the Canadians is of interest, 
as given by a correspondent of the London Graphic, who passed 
through the Dominion after the opening of the war. 

''The news of the great war came like a bolt from the blue. 
The effect was startling. The ordinary flow of Canadian life was 
suddenly arrested. The customary routine seemed to stop dead 
still. The whole of Canadian thought and much of the people's 
energy were switched on to the great staggering fact that Europe 
was at war, and the old country fighting for its life. A most won- 
derful and touching patriotism welled up in the heart of the 
Canadians. The air became electric with excitement and enthu- 
siasm. The prairie was indeed on fire. Passing through EngHsh 
towns on my journey to London the cahn and peaceful demeanor 
of the people and the even flow of life seemed in strange contrast 
with the land I had just left, where the population was throbbing 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 83 

with loyal passion, and the war dominated the existence of the 
inhabitants, high and low, from Victoria to Halifax. One Canadian 
scene that remains impressed upon my mind was the sea of upturned 
faces in front of the offices of the Calgary News Telegram— eveiy 
ear straining to the point where the war news was announced at 
intervals through a megaphone. 

*''We stand shoulder to shoulder,' Sir. Robert Borden, the 
Premier, had said, 'with Britain and the other British Dominions in 
this quarrel, and that duty we shall not fail to fulfil as the honor 
of Canada demands.' It is being fulfilled in a score of different 
ways, but mainly in the practical spirit that is characteristic of 
the country. The Dominion is the Empire's granary, and through 
the granary doors, as the Motherland knows, are passing huge gifts 
of food to the British population. At the same time the stoppage 
of the export of all foodstuffs to other countries is proposed. 

"Soon the Dominion began to mobilize. Regiments seemed 
to spring up, as if by magic, from the ground— not hordes^ of 
untrained men, but stalwart horsemen, accustomed to the rifle 
and inured to a hard outdoor fife. The Germans will knock against 
another 'bit of hard stuff' when they meet the Canadian con- 
tingents. One of the regiments carries the name of the Princess 
Patricia, who, by the way, holds quite a unique position in the 
hearts of the people. The popular Princess was, shortly after 
I left, to have presented her regiment with their colors— worked 
by her own hands. 

"Londoners were happy in the knowledge that more such men 
could be sent, if necessary, up to 200,000 in number— such was 
the earnestness of the people. One met this practical earnestness 
in a dozen different directions— in such facts, for instance, as the 
conversion of the great Winnipeg Industrial Hall into a mifitary 
training center— and not the least significant feature in the situa- 
tion is the manner in which the prevalent enthusiasm had spread 
to the American inhabitants of the country. The trade intimacy 
between the United States and the Dominion was, indeed, con- 



84 THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 

stantly growing, and the many great American manufacturing 
concerns which had planted themselves in Canada had attained 
prosperity. It was pleasant and reassuring to think that this 
had not weakened the ties of attachment to the old country. In 
the days to succeed the war the Dominion can look back with 
pride upon the part she bore in sustaining the arms of Mother 
England, and can take her place with happy confidence and added 
strength as the eldest daughter in the great family of British 
peoples." 

The enthusiasm thus indicated among the Canadians, which 
had its outcome m the despatch of 32,000 sons of the Dominion 
in late September to the seat of war, to be quicldy followed by a 
second contingent, was paralleled in India, which sent to France 
70,000 of its dusky sons to join the struggling hosts. As for 
the remaining comitries of the British empire, Australia, South 
Africa, East Africa, etc., a sunilar sentunent of loyalty prevailed, 
manifested there by the sending of contingents or in expeditions 
against the German colonies in the South Sea and in Africa. The 
whole empire was ready to support the mother comitry. 

Certainly the Kaiser of Germany, Wilham the War Lord, had 
set loose in the air a nest of hornets to sting liis well-trained war- 
riors. By his side stood only Austria, a composite empire which 
soon found all its strength too little to hold back the mighty Rus- 
sian tide that swept across its borders. Thus this one stalwart 
nation, with its weak auxiliary, was forced to face now east, now 
west, against a continent in anns. It is difficult to imagine that 
the Kaiser could have hoped to succeed, despite the training of 
his people and the strength of his artillery. ''God fights with 
the heaviest battalions," said one who laiew, and the weight of 
battahons, though at fii'st on WiUiam's side, could not remain so. 

THE BEITISH SENTIMENT 

While the British people, with their lack of a system of 
militarism, were not in condition to send large bodies of troops at 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 85 

once to the aid of the mobilized French, they were soon ready to 
despatch a useful contingent of trained men. Probably the German 
emperor counted upon the disturbance in Ireland between the 
LFlsterites and the people of the Catholic provinces to tie the hands 
of the government, but these people at once suspended their hostile 
sentiments in favor of the larger needs of their country. In Eng- 
land itself the mihtant suffragettes showed equal patriotism, at 
once agreeing to desist from all acts of violence and offering to aid 
their country to the extent of their powers. 

LORD kitchener's CAREER 

The British government appointed Lord Kitchener, the hero 
of many successful expeditions, Secretary of State for War, putting 
the whole management of military affairs into his competent 
hands. His fitness for this was thoroughly attested by his long 
and brilliant service, and as the presence of Napoleon was said to 
be equal to an army, so was that of this able military leader. 

For those who are not familiar with Kitchener's career a brief 
statement concerning it may be useful. Born in 1850, Horatio 
Herbert Kitchener entered the army in 1871, was in civil life 
1874-82, then returned to army duty. He took part in the Nile 
expedition of 1884 for the rescue of General Gordon and com- 
manded a brigade in the Suakim campaign of 1888. Governor of 
Suakim 1886-88, adjutant-general of the Egyptian army 1888-92, 
he was appointed to the command of this army, with the Egyptian 
rank of Sirdar, in 1890. 

His service in Egypt was during the period of the Mahdi 
outbreak, which began in 1883, defeated all the armies sent to 
quell it, and for years held the Sudan region of Egypt. In 1896 
Kitchener set out for its suppression, recovering Dongola, and 
organizing an expedition against the Khalifa, the successor of the 
Mahdi. He defeated the dervish army of the Khahfa in April, 
1898, and on September 2d of that year utterly crushed the Dervish 
hosts at Omdurman, regaining the Sudan for Egypt and Britain. 



86 THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 

This exploit brought him the thanks of parhament and the 
title of baron, with a grant of £30,000 and a sword of honor. In 
1899 he went with Lord Roberts to South Africa as chief of staff, 
and on Lord Roberts' return in 1900 he succeeded him as com- 
mander-in-chief and brought the Boer War to a successful conclusion. 
He was now made full general, with the rank of viscount, and sub- 
sequently served as commander-in-chief in India. 

A FORCEFUL CHABACTER 

In an illuminating article in Collier's Weekly, the well-known 
Irish journahst, T. P. O'Connor, thus brought out the character 
of the hero of Khartoum : 

"I attribute somethmg of the Lord Kitchener we know to 
the fact that, though Enghsh by blood, he spent the first years 
of his life in wandering over the hills and looking down on the 
sea-tossed shores of County Kerry. That tact which enabled him 
to settle the issue with Marchand, the French explorer, at Fash- 
oda, suggests some of the lessons in the soft answer which Ire- 
land can teach. You remember how, when it was possible that 
a colHsion between him and Marchand might mean a war between 
England and France, Lord Kitchener sent some fresh vegetables 
and champagne to the daring French explorer, who had gone 
through the hunger, thirst, and hardship of the desert for months. 
Marchand had to go from Fashoda all the same, but he went with 
no personal grievance. 

"If I look for the roots of Lord Kitchener's greatness, I trace 
them to intense ambition to succeed, to make the most of his 
opportunities — above all, to the incessant desire to Work and fill 
every hour of his days with something done. He is sent as a 
youngster to Palestine; through peril to life, through great priva- 
tion, through heart-breaking drudgery, he pursues his work until 
he has completed a map of all western Palestine to the amazement 
and delight of his employers. And he values this experience so 
largely because he learns Arabic, and, above all, he learns the 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 87 

Arabic character. One of the chroniclers of his career makes the 
apt observation that, while the baton of the marshal is in every 
French soldier's knapsack, Kitchener found his coronet in the 
Arab grammar. But how many soldiers or men of any class 
would have devoted the leisure hours of a fiercely active task like 
Kitchener's in Palestine to the study of one of the most difiicult 
of languages? 

"Hard work, patience, and the utilization of every second of 
time, the eagerness always to learn — ^these are the chief secrets of 
Lord Kitchener's enormous success in life. But the man who 
works himself is ineffective in great things unless he has the gift 
to choose the men who can work for him and with him. This 
choice of subordinates is one of Lord Kitchener's greatest powers. 
He nearly always has had the right man in the right place. And 
his men return his confidence because he gives them absolute 
confidence. He never thinks of asking a subordinate whether he 
has done the job he has given him; he takes that for granted, 
knowing his man; and he never worries his subordinates. 

"This is one of the reasons why, though he works so terrif- 
ically, he never is tired, never worried. He sits down at his desk 
at the War Ofiice for about ten hours a day; but he sits there 
calmly, isn't ringing at bells and shouting down pipes; he does it 
all so quietly that it seems mere pastime; and the effect of this 
perfect tranquillity produces an extraordinary result on those who 
work with him. They also do their work easily, tranquilly, and 
without feeliQg it. 

"A great soldier certainly; but perhaps a greater organizer 
than anything else. This is his supreme quality, and for that 
quality there is necessary, above all things, a clear, penetrating 
brain. He doesn't form any visions — as Napoleon used to com- 
plain of some of his marshals. At school he was celebrated for his 
knowledge of mathematics, and especially for his phenomenal 
rapidity m. dealing with figures, and it was not accident that so 
truly a scientific mind found its natural place in the engineers. 



88 THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 

A mathematician, an engineer, a man of science, a great account- 
ant — these things he has been in all his enterprises. It was these 
quahties that enabled him to make that astounding railway which 
brought Cairo almost into touch with the Khahfa, who, with his 
predecessor, the Mahdi, and with his tragically potent ally, the 
hungry and all-devouring desert, had beaten back so many other 
attempts to reach and to beat him. 

"This man, who has fought such tremendous and historic, 
battles and confronted great odds, is yet a man who prefers a 
deal to a struggle; and, though he can be so stern, has yet a diplo- 
matic tact that gets him and his country out of difficult hours. 
The nature, doubtless, is complex, and stern determination and 
tenacity are part of it; but there is also the other side, which is 
much forgotten — especially by that class of writers who have 
to describe human character as rigidly symmetrical and unnat- 
urally harmonious. 

"That cold and penetrating eye of his makes it impossible 
to imagine anybody taking any Hberties with Lord Kitchener; 
yet one of his greatest qualities, at once useful and charming, is 
his accessibihty. Anybody who has anything to say to him can 
approach him; anybody who has anything to teach him will find 
a ready and grateful learner. This is one of the secrets of his 
extraordinary success and universal popularity in Egypt. Lord 
Cromer was a great Egyptian ruler, and his services are imperish- - 
able and gigantic; but Lord Cromer was the stern, solitary, and 
inaccessible bureaucrat who worked innumerable hours every day 
at his desk, never learned the Arabic language, and possibly never 
quite grasped the Arab nature. Lord Kitchener is the <;adi under 
the tree. The mayor or the citizens of the little Arab village can 
come to him, and the old soldier, and even the fellah, alone; and 
they will find Lord Kitchener ready to listen and to talk to them 
in their own tongue, to enter with gusto into the pettiest details 
of their daily and squahd fives, and ready also to apply the remedy 
to such grievances as conamend themselves to his judgment. 



THE WORLD'S GREATEST WAR 89 

"As an illustration of his accessibility, let me repeat a delicious 
story which delighted all Egypt. An old peasant came out of the 
depths of the land all the way to Cairo to see the great Kitchener, 
with the complaint that his white mule had been stolen. The 
whole official machinery was interrupted for a while, and the old 
fellah went back with his white mule. You can fancy how that 
story was repeated in every fellah cabin in the land, and how the 
devotion to Kitchener and trust in his justice and in his sympathy 
went trumpet-tongued among this race, downtrodden and neglected 
almost from the beginning of time." 

Such is the man who, when chosen to head the British War 
Department, had his bed sent to the office, that he might be on 
duty day and night if needed; who insisted that no raw recruits 
should be sent to the front, but put them through a rigid system 
of drill and physical exercise to toughen their muscles and fit them 
for the work of a soldier; who said that there would be abundant 
time for fighting, as in his judgment there was a year or more of 
war in prospect. 




CHAPTER VI 

The Earthquake of Napoleonism 

Its Effect on National Conditions Finally Led to the 

War of 1914 

Conditions in France and Germany — The Campaign in Italy — ^The Victory at Ma- 
rengo — Moreau at Hohenlinden — The Consul made Emperor — The Code Napoleon — 
Campaign of 1805— Battle of Austerlitz — The Conquest of Prussia — The Invasion of 
Poland — Eylau and Friedland — Campaign of 1809 — ^Victory at Wagram — The Cam- 
paign in Spain — The Invasion of Russia — A Fatal Retreat — Dresden and Leipzig — 
The Hundred Days — The Congress of Vienna — The Holy Alliance, 

'HEN, after a weary climb, we find ourselves on the sum- 
mit of a lofty mountain, and look back from that com- 
manding altitude over the ground we have traversed, 
what is it that we behold? The minor details of the scenery, many 
of which seemed large and important to us as we passed, are now 
lost to view, and we see only the great and imposing features of 
the landscape, the high elevations, the town-studded valleys, the 
deep and winding streams, the broad forests. It is the same 
when, from the summit of an age, we gaze backward over the 
plain of time. The myriad of petty happenings are lost to sight, 
and we see only the striking events, the critical epochs, the mighty 
crises through which the world has passed. These are the things 
that make true history, not the daily doings in the king's palace 
or the peasant's hut. What we should seek to observe and store 
up in our memories are the turning points in human events, the 
great thoughts which have ripened into noble deeds, the hands of 
might which have pushed the world forward in its career; not 
the trifling occurrences which signify nothing, the passing actions 
which have borne no fruit in human affairs. It is with such turn- 

(90) 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 91 

ing points, such critical periods in modern history, that we are 
here deahng; not to picture the passing bubbles on the stream of 
time, but to point out the great ships which have sailed up that 
stream laden with a noble freight. This is history in its deepest 
and best aspect, and we have set our camera to photograph only 
the men who have made and the events which constitute history 
in the phase here outlined. 

The first fifteen years of the nineteenth century in Europe 
yield us the history of a man rather than of a continent. France 
was the center of Europe; Napoleon, the Corsiean, was the center 
of France. All the affairs of all the nations seemed to gather 
around this genius of war. He was respected, feared, hated; he 
had risen with the suddenness of a thunder-cloud on a clear horizon, 
and flashed the lightnings of victory in the dazzled eyes of the 
nations. All the events of the period were concentrated into one 
great event, and the name of that event was Napoleon. He 
seemed incarnate war, organized destruction; sword in hand, he 
dominated the nations, and victory sat on his banners with folded 
wings. He was, in a full sense, the man of destiny, and Europe 
was his prey. 

Never has there been a more wonderful career. The earher 
great conquerors began hfe at the top; Napoleon began his at the 
bottom. Alexander was a king; Csesar was an aristocrat of the 
Roman republic; Napoleon rose from the people, and was not even 
a native of the land which became the scene of his exploits. Pure 
force of miUtary genius lifted him from the lowest to the liighest 
place among mankind, and for long and terrible years Europe 
shuddered at his name and trembled beneath the tread of his 
marching legions. As for France, he brought it glory and left it 
ruin and dismay. 

The career of Napoleon Bonaparte began in a very modest 
way. Born in Corsica and trained in a military school in France, 
his native ability as a man of action was first made evident in 1794, 
when, under the orders of the National Convention, he quelled the 



■^ 



92 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

mob of Paris with loaded cannon and put a final end to the Reign 
of Terror that had long prevailed. 

Placed at the head of the French army in Italy, Napoleon 
quickly astonished the world by a series of the most brilUant vic- 
tories, defeating the Austrians and the Sardinians wherever he met 
them, seizing Venice, the city of the lagoon, and forcing almost 
all Italy to submit to his arms. A republic was estabUshed here 
and a new one in Switzerland, while Belgium and the left bank 
of the Rhine were held by France. 

His wars here at an end. Napoleon's ambition led him to 
Egypt, inspired by great designs which he failed to realize. In 
his absence anarchy arose in France. The five Directors, then 
at the head of the government, had lost all authority, and Napo- 
leon, who had unexpectedly returned, did not hesitate to overthrow 
them and the Assembly which supported them. A new govern- 
ment, with three Consuls at its head, was formed. Napoleon, as 
First Consul, holding almost royal power. Thus France stood in 
1800, at the end of the eighteenth century. 

CONDITIONS IN FKANCE AND GEEMANT 

In the remainder of Europe there was nothing to compare 
with the momentous convulsion which had taken place in France. 
England had gone through its two revolutions more than a cen- 
tm-y before, and its people were the freest of any in Europe. 
Recently it had lost its colonies in America, but it still held in 
that continent the broad domain of Canada, and was building 
for itself a new empire in India, while founding colonies in twenty 
other lands. In commerce and manufactures it entered the nine- 
teenth century as the greatest nation on the earth. The haimner 
and the loom resounded from end to end of the island, mighty 
centers of industry arose where cattle had grazed a century before, 
coal and iron were being torn in great quantities from the depths 
of the earth, and there seemed everywhere an endless bustle and 
whirr. The ships of England haunted all seas and visited the most 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 93 

remote ports, laden with the products of her workshops and bring- 
ing back raw material for her factories and looms. Wealth accu- 
mulated, London became the money market of the world, the 
riches and prosperity of the island kingdom were growing to be 
a parable among the nations of the earth. 

On the continent of Europe, Prussia, destined in time to be- 
come great, had recently emerged from its medieval feebleness, 
mainly under the powerful hand of Frederick the Great, whose 
reign extended until 1786, and whose ambition, daring, and miU- 
tary genius made him a fitting predecessor of Napoleon the Great, 
who so soon succeeded him in the annals of war. Unscrupulous 
in his aims, this warrior king had torn Silesia from Austria, added 
to his kingdom a portion of unfortunate Poland, annexed the prin- 
cipality of East Friesland, and lifted Prussia into a leading posi- 
tion among the European states. 

Germany, now — ^with the exception of Austria — a compact 
empire, wag then a series of disconnected states, variously known 
as kingdoms, principaHties, margravates, electorates, and by other 
titles, the whole forming the so-called Holy Empire, though it 
was "neither holy nor an empire." It had drifted down in this 
fashion from the Middle Ages, and the work of consolidation had 
but just begun, in the conquests of Frederick the Great. A host 
of petty potentates ruled the land, whose states, aside from Prussia 
and Austria, were too weak to have a voice in the councils of 
Europe. Joseph II, the titular emperor of Germany, made an 
earnest and vigorous effort to combine its elements into a power- 
ful unit; but he signally failed, and died in 1790, a disappointed 
and embittered man. 

Austria, then far the most powerful of the German states, 
was from 1740 to 1780 under the reign of a woman, Maria Theresa, 
who struggled in vain against her ambitious neighbor, Frederick 
the Great, his kingdom being extended ruthlessly at the expense 
of her imperial dominions. Austria remained a great country, 
however, including Bohemia and Hungary among its domains. 



94 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

It was lord of Lombardy and Venice in Italy, but was destined to 
play an unfortunate part in the coming Napoleonic wars. 

We have briefly epitomized Napoleon's early career, his 
doings in the Revolution, in Italy, and in Egypt, unto the time 
that France's worsliip of his military genius raised him to the rank 
of First Consul, and gave him in effect the power of a Idng. No 
one dared question his word, the army was at his beck and call, 
the nation lay prostrate at his feet — ^not in fear but in admira- 
tion. Such was the state of affairs in France in the closing year 
of the eighteenth centmy. The Refvolution was at an end; the 
Republic existed only as a name; Napoleon was the autocrat of 
France and the terror of Em*ope. From this point we resume 
the story of his career. 

The First Consul began his reign with two enemies in the 
field, England and Austria. Prussia was neutral, and he had won 
the friendship of Paul, the emperor of Russia, by a shrewd move. 
WTiile the other nations refused to exchange the Russian prisoners 
they held. Napoleon sent home 6,000 of these captives, newly clad 
and armed, under their own leaders, and wthout demanding ran- 
som. This was enough to win to his side the weak-minded Paul, 
whose delight in soldiers he well knew. 

Napoleon now had but two enemies in arms to deal with. He 
wrote letters to the king of England and the emperor of Austria, 
offering peace. The answers were cold and insulting, asking 
France to take back her Bourbon kings and return to her old 
boundaries. Nothing remained but war. Napoleon prepared 
it with his usual rapidity, secrecy, and keenness of judgment. 

THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY 

There were two French armies in the field in the spring of 
1800, Moreau commanding in Germany, Massena in Italy. Switzer- 
land, which was occupied by the French, divided the armies of the 
enemy, and Napoleon determined to take advantage of the sepa- 
ration of their forces, and strike an overwhelming blow. He sent 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 95 

word to Moreau and Massena to keep the enemy in check at any 
cost, and secretly gathered a third army, whose corps were dis- 
persed here and there, while the Powers of Europe were aware 
only of the army of reserve at Dijon, made up of conscripts and 
invalids. All was ready for the great movement which Napoleon 
had in view. 

Twenty centuries before, Hannibal had led his army across the 
great mountain barrier of the Alps, and poured down hke an 
avalanche upon the fertile plains of Italy. The Corsican deter- 
mined to repeat this brilUant achievement and emulate Hanni- 
bal's career. Several passes across the mountains seemed favor- 
able to his purpose, especially those of the St. Bernard, the Simplon 
and Mont Cenis. Of these the first was the most difficult; but 
it was much the shorter, and Napoleon determined to lead the 
main body of his army over this ice-covered mountain pass, despite 
its dangers and difficulties. The enterprise was one to deter any 
man less bold than Hannibal or Napoleon, but it was welcome 
to the hardihood and daring of these men, who rejoiced in the 
seemingly impossible and spurned faltering at hardships and 
perils. 

The task of the Corsican was greater than that of the Car- 
thaginian. He had cannon to transport, while Hannibal's men 
carried only swords and spears. But the genius of Napoleon was 
equal to the task. The cannon were taken from their carriages 
and placed in the hoUowed-out trunks of trees, which could be 
dragged with ropes over the ice and snow. Mules were used to 
draw the gun-carriages and the wagon-loads of food and muni- 
tions of war. Stores of provisions had been placed at suitable 
points along the road. 

The sudden appearance of the French in Italy was an utter 
surprise to the Austrians. They descended like a torrent into the 
valley, seized Ivry, and five days after reaching Italy met and 
repulsed an Austrian force. The divisions which had crossed by 
other passes one by one joined Napoleon. On June 9th Marshal 



96 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

Lannes met and defeated the Austrians at Montebello, after a hot 
engagement. ''I heard the bones crackle hke a hailstorm on the 
roofs," he said. On the 14th, the two armies met on the plain 
of Marengo, and one of the most famous of Napoleon's battles 
began. 

THE VICTORY AT MARENGO 

Napoleon was not ready for the coming battle, and was taken 
by surprise. He had been obliged to break up his anny in order 
to guard all the passages open to the enemy. Suddenly attacked 
and taken by surprise, his army was defeated and driven back in 
retreat in the first stage of the battle. But Napoleon was not the 
man to accept defeat. Hurrying up Desaix, one of his most trusted 
generals, with his corps, he flung these fresh troops upon the 
enemy, following up the assault with the dragoons of Kellermann. 
The result was a disastrous rout of the Austrians, who were driven 
from the field, leaving thousands of dead, and other thousands of 
prisoners in the hands of the enemy. 

A few days afterwards, on the 19th, Moreau in Germany won 
a brilliant victory at Hochstadt, near Blenheim, took 5,000 pris- 
oners and twenty pieces of cannon, and forced from the Austrians 
an armed truce wliich left him master of South Germany. A still 
more momentous armistice was signed by Melas in Italy, by which 
the Austrians surrendered Piedmont, Lombardy, and all their 
. territory as far as the Mincio, leaving France master of Italy. 

MOREAU AT HOHENLINDEN 

What followed must be briefly detailed. Only a truce, not a 
peace, had followed the victories of Napoleon and Moreau, and 
five months later, Austria refusing to make peace without the 
concurrence of England, the war began again. Moreau winning 
another famous victory on the plains of Hohenlinden, the Austrians 
losing 8,000 in killed and wounded and 12,000 in prisoners. 

Moreau advanced to Vienna, where the emperor was forced to 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 97 

sign an armistice, giving up to France the valley of the Danube, 
the country of the Tyrol, a number of fortresses and large maga- 
zines of war material. Tliis truce was followed by a peace in 
February, 1801. It was one that left Napoleon the idol of France, 
the terror of Europe, and the admiration of the world. He 
had proved himself the mate of Csesar and Alexander as a con- 
queror. 

THE CONSUL MADE EMPEROR 

The events that followed must be briefly epitomized. For 
nearly the only time in his career Napoleon had a period of peace. 
In this he showed himself an autocratic but able ruler, making 
himself king in everything but name, restoring the old court cus- 
toms and etiquette, but not interfering with the liberties and priv- 
ileges which the people had won by the Revolution. FeudaUsm 
had been definitely overthrown and Napoleon's supremacy in the 
state was one that recognized the popular freedom. 

The culmination of Napoleon's ambition came in 1804, when 
he followed the example of Caesar, the Roman conqueror, seeking 
the crown as a reward for his victories. Like Caesar, he had his 
enemies, but, more fortunate than Caesar, he escaped their plots 
and v/as elected Emperor of the French by an almost unanimous 
vote of the people. The Pope was obliged to come to Paris at the 
fiat of the new autocrat and to anoint him as emperor, the sanction 
of the Church being thus given to his new dignity. His empire was 
one founded upon modern ideas, one called into existence by the 
votes of a free people, not resting upon the necks of a nation 
of serfs. 

THE CODE NAPOLEON 

During his brief respite from war Napoleon's activity was 
great, his statesmanship notable. Great public works, monuments 
to his glory, were constructed, wide schemes of pubhc improvement 
were entered upon, and important changes were made in the finan- 

7 



98 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

cial system that provided the great sums needed for these enter- 
prises. The most important of these evidences of intellectual 
activity was the Code Napoleon, the first organized code of French 
law and still the basis of jurisprudence in France. This, first pro- 
mulgated in 1801 as the civil code of France, had its title changed 
to Code Napoleon in 1804, and as such stands as one of the greatest 
monuments to the mental capacity of this extraordinary man. 

The period of peace during which these events took place was 
one of brief endurance. It practically ended in 1803, when Great 
Britain, Napoleon's most persistent foe, again declared war. But 
actual war did not begin until two years later. 

The Emperor's role in this period was one of threat. England 
had been invaded and conquered from France once before. It 
might be again. Like Wilham of Normandy, Napoleon prepared 
a large fleet and strong army and threatened an invasion of the 
island kingdom. This might possibly have been successful but 
for the shrewd pohcy of William Pitt, the British Prime Minister, 
who organized a coalition of Napoleon's enemies in Europe which 
gave him a new use for his army. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1805 

The coalition embraced Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden and 
Norway, with Great Britain at their back. The bold Corsican 
had roused nearly all Europe against him. He dealt with it in his 
usual alert and successful manner. 

Quick as were his enemies to come into the field, they were not 
quick enough for their vigilant foe. The army prepared for the 
invasion of England was at once set in motion towards the Rhine, 
and was handled with such skill as to surround at Uhn the Austrian 
army under General Mack and force its surrender. 

This took place in October. On the 1st of December the two 
armies (92,000 of the aUies to 70,000 French) came face to face 
on the field of Austerhtz, where on the following day was to be 
fought one of the world's most memorable battles. 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 99 

BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ 

The Emperor Alexander had joined Francis of Austria, and 
the two monarchs, with their staff officers, occupied the castle 
and village of Austerlitz. Their troops hastened to occupy the 
plateau of Pratzen, which Napoleon had designedly left free. 
His plans of battle were already fully made. He had, with the 
intuition of genius, foreseen the probable maneuvers of the enemy, 
and had left open for them the position which he wished them 
to occupy. He even announced their movement in a proclama- 
tion to his troops. 

''The positions that we occupy are formidable," he said, "and 
while the enemy march to turn my right they will present to me 
their flank." 

This movement to the right was indeed the one that had been 
decided upon by the allies, with the purpose of cutting off the 
road to Vienna by isolating numerous corps dispersed in Austria 
and Styria. It had been shrewdly divined by Napoleon in choos- 
ing his ground. 

He held his own men in readiness while the line of the enemy 
deployed. The sun was rising, its rays gleaming through a mist, 
which dispersed as it rose higher. It now poured its brilliant 
beams across the field, the afterward famous ''sun of Austerlitz." 
The movement of the alHes had the effect of partly withdrawing 
their troops from the plateau of Pratzen. At a signal from the 
emperor the strongly concentrated center of the French army 
moved forward in a dense mass, directing their march towards the 
plateau, which they made all haste to occupy. They had reached 
the foot of the hill before the rising mist revealed them to the 
enemy. 

The two emperors watched the movement without divining 
its intent. "See how the French climb the height without stay- 
ing to reply to our fire," said Prince Czartoryski, who stood near 
them. 

They were soon to learn why their fire was disdained. The 



100 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

allied force, pierced in its center by the French, was flung back in 
disorder and on all sides broke into a disorderly retreat. The 
slaughter was frightful. One division, cut off from the army, threw 
down its arms and surrendered. Two columns rushed upon the 
ice of a frozen lake. Upon this the fire of the French cannon was 
turned, the ice splintered and gave way beneath their feet and 
thousands of the despairing troops perished in the freezing waters. 
Of the whole army only one corps left the field in order of battle. 
More than 30,000 prisoners, including twenty generals, remained in 
Napoleon's hands, and with them a hundred and twenty pieces of 
cannon and forty flags. Thus ended the most famous of Napo- 
leon's battles. 

The victory of Austerlitz left Germany in Napoleon's hands, 
and the remodeling of the map of Europe was one of the greatest 
that has ever taken place at any one time. Kingdoms were 
formed and placed under Napoleon's brothers or favorite generals. 
His changes in the states of Germany were numerous and radical. 
Those of south and west Germany were organized into the Con- 
federation of the Rhine, under his protection. Many of the small 
principalities were suppressed and their territories added to the 
larger states. As to the "Holy Roman Empire," a once powerful 
organization which had long since sunk into a mere shadow, it 
finally ceased to exist. The empire of France was extended by 
these and other changes until it spread over Italy, the Nether- 
lands and the south and west of Germany. 

Changes so great as these could scarcely be made without ex- 
citing bitter opposition. Prussia had been seriously affected by 
Napoleon's map-making, and in the end its king, Frederick Wil- 
ham, became so exasperated that he broke off all communication 
with France and began to prepare for war. 

THE CONQUEST OF PRUSSIA 

It is by no means impossible that Napoleoa had been work- 
ing for this. It is certain that he was quick to take advantage of 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 101 

it. While the Prussian king was slowly collecting his troops and 
war material, the veterans of France were aheady on the march 
and approaching the borders of Prussia. The hasty levies of 
Frederick William were no match for the war-hardened French, 
the Russians failed to come to their aid, and on the 4th of October, 
1806, the two armies met at Jena. 

The Prussians proved incapable of withstanding the im- 
petuous attack of the French and were soon broken and in panic 
and flight. Nothing could stop them. Reinforcements coming up, 
20,000 in number, were thrown across their path, but in vain, 
being swept away by the fugitives and pushed back by the 
triumphant piu-suers. 

At the same time another battle was in progress near Auer- 
stadt between Marshal Davoust and the forces of the Duke of 
Brunswick. This, too, ended in victory for the French. The 
king had been with the duke and was borne back by the flying 
host, the two bodies of fugitives finally coalescing. In that one 
fatal day Frederick WilUam had lost his army and placed his 
kingdom in jeopardy. ''They can do nothing but gather up the 
debris/' said Napoleon. 

The occupation of Berlin, the Prussian capital, quickly fol- 
lowed, and the war ended with new map-making which greatly 
reduced the influence of Prussia as an European Power. 

THE INVASION OF POLAND 

Russia was still in arms, and occupied Poland. Thither the 
victorious French now advanced, making Warsaw, the Polish 
capital, the goal of their march. The Russians were beaten and 
forced back in every battle, and the Poles, hoping to regain their 
lost liberties, gladly rose in aid of the invader. But the French 
army found itself exposed to serious privations. The country was 
a frozen desert, incapable of supplying food for an army. The 
wintry chill and the desolate character of the country seriously 
interfered with Napoleon's plans, the troops being obhged to 



102 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

make their way through thick and rain-soaked forests, and march 
over desolate and marshy plains. The winter of the north fought 
against them Uke a strong army and many of them fell dead with- 
out a battle. Warlike movements became almost impossible to 
the troops of the south, though the hardy northeners, accustomed 
to the climate, continued their military operations. 

EYLAU AND FRIEDLAND 

By the end of January the Russian army was evidently 
approaching in force, and immediate action became necessary. 
The cold increased. The mud was converted into ice. On 
January 30, 1807, Napoleon left Warsaw and marched in search 
of the enemy. General Benningsen retreated, avoiding battle, 
and on the 7th of February entered the small town of Eylau, 
from which his troops were pushed by the approaching French. 
He encamped outside the town, the French in and about it; it was 
evident that a great battle was at hand. 

The weather was cold. Snow lay thick upon the ground and 
still fell in great flakes. A sheet of ice covering some small lakes 
formed part of the country upon which the armies were encamped, 
but was thick enough to bear their weight. It was a chill, inhos- 
pitable country to which the demon of war had come. 

Before daybreak on the 8th Napoleon was in the streets of 
Eylau, forming his line of battle for the coming engagement. 
Soon the artillery of both armies opened, and a rain of cannon 
balls began to decimate the opposing ranks. The Russian fire 
was concentrated on the town, which was soon in flames. That 
of the French was directed against a hill which the emperor deemed 
it important to occupy. The two armies, nearly equal in num- 
bers, — the French having 75,000 to the Russian 70,000 — ^were 
but a short distance apart, and the slaughter from the fierce 
cannonade was terrible. 

Nature, which had so far acted to check the advance of the 
French in Poland, now threatened their defeat and destruction. 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 103 

A snow-fall began, so thick and dense that the armies lost sight of 
each other, the French columns losing their way in the gloom. 
When the snow ceased, after a half-hour's fall, the French army 
was in a critical position. It was in a wandering and disorganized 
state, while the Russians were on the point of executing a vigorous 
turning movement. 

Yet the genius of Napoleon turned the scale. He ordered a 
grand change of all the cavalry of his army, driving the Russians 
back, occupying a hilly ground in their rear, and in the end hand- 
ling them so vigorously that a final retreat began. 

Thus ended the most indecisive of Napoleon's victories, one 
which had almost been a defeat and which left both armies so 
exhausted that months passed before either was in condition to 
resume the war. It was the month of June before the armies were 
again put in motion. Now the wintry desolation was replaced by 
a scene of green woodland, shining lakes and attractive villages, 
the conditions being far more favorable for warhke operations. 

On June 13th the armies again met, this time at the town of 
Friedland, on the River Alle, in the vicinity of Konigsberg, toward 
which the Russians were marching. Here Benningsen, the Russian 
general, had incautiously concentrated his troops within a bend of 
the river, a tactical mistake of which Napoleon hastened to take 
advantage. 

General Ney fought his way into the town and took the 
bridges, while the main force of the French marched upon the 
entrapped enemy, who met with complete defeat, many being 
killed on the field, many more drowned in the river. Konigsberg, 
the prize of victory, was quickly occupied by the French, Prussia 
the ally of Russia, thus losing all its area except the single town 
of Memel. The result was disastrous to the Prussian king, who 
was forced to yield more than half his kingdom. 

Louisa, the beautiful queen of Frederick William of Prussia, 
had an interview with Napoleon and earnestly sought to induce 
him to mitigate his harsh terms. In vain she brought to bear 



104 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

upon him all her powers of persuasion and attractive charm of 
manner. He continued cold and obdurate and she left Tilsit 
deeply mortified and humiliated. 

If Napoleon had come near defeat in the campaign of 1807, 
he came much nearer in that of 1809, in which his long career of 
victory was for a time diversified by an example of defeat, from the 
consequences of which only his indomitable energy saved him. 
And this was at the hands of the Austrians, who had so often met 
with defeat and humiliation at his hands. 

In 1808 the defeat of his armies in Spain by the people organ- 
ized into guerilla bands forced him to take command there in per- 
son. He defeated the insurgents wherever met, took the city of 
Saragossa and replaced his brother Joseph on the throne. Then 
the outbreak of war in Austria called him away and he was forced 
to leave Spain for later attention. 

CAMPAIGN OF 1809 

The declaration of war by Austria arose from indignation at 
the arbitrary acts of the conqueror, this growing so intense that in 
April, 1809, a new declaration was made and new armies called 
into the field. 

The French campaign was characterized by the usual rapidity. 
But on this occasion the Archduke Charles, who led the Austrians, 
proved equally rapid, and was in the field so quickly that the 
widely-spread French army was for a time in imminent danger of 
being cut in two by the alert enemy. 

Only a brief hesitation on the part of the Archduke saved the 
French from this peril. They concentrated with the utmost haste, 
forced the Austrians back, and captured a large nimiber of pris- 
oners and cannon. In Italy, on the contrary, the Austrians were 
victorious, but the rapid advance of Napoleon towards Vienna 
caused their recall and the campaign became a race for the capital 
of Austria. In this Napoleon succeeded, the garrison jrielding the 
city to his troops. 



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THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 105 

Meanwhile the Archdukes Charles and John, the latter in com- 
mand of the army from Italy, were marching hastily towards the 
opposite side of the Danube. Napoleon, seeking to strike a blow 
before a junction between the armies could be made, crossed the 
river by the aid of bridges thrown from the island of Lobau and 
occupied the villages of Aspem and Essling. 

This was done on May 20th, but during that night the strong 
current of the river carried away the bridge, leaving the French in 
a perilous situation. On the afternoon of the 21st the entire 
Austrian army, 70,000 to 80,000 strong, attacked the French in 
the two villages, who held their posts only with the greatest 
difficulty. 

By dawn of the 21st more than 70,000 French had crossed, 
but at this critical interval the bridge again gave way, broken by 
the fireships and the stone-taden boats sent by the Austrians down 
the swift current. The struggle went on all day, the bridge being 
again built and again broken, and at night the French, cut off 
from their supply of ammunition, were forced to retreat. Napoleon, 
for the first time in his career, had met with defeat. More than 
40,000 dead and wounded lay on that fatal field, among them the 
brilliant Marshal Lannes, one of Napoleon's ablest aids. 

VICTORY AT WAGRAM 

Napoleon, however, had no thought of yielding his hold upon 
Vienna. He brought forward new troops with all haste, until by 
July 1st he had an army of 150,000 men. The Austrian army had 
also been augmented and now numbered 135,000 or 140,000 men. 
They had fortified the positions of the recent battle, expecting a 
new attack in that quater. 

But of this Napoleon had no intention. He had selected the 
heights from Neusiedl to Wagram, occupied by the Austrians, but 
not fortified by them, as a more favorable point, and during the 
night of July 4th he threw fresh bridges from Lobau to the maia 
land and set in motion the strong force occupying the island. This 



106 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

moved against the heights of Wagram, occupying Aspern and 
Essling in its advance. 

The battle of the next day was one of desp'erate fury. Finally 
the height was gained, giving the French the key of the battle- 
field. The Archduke Charles looked in vain for the army under 
his brother John, which failed to appear, and, assailed at every 
point, was obliged to order a retreat. But this was no rout. The 
retreat was conducted slowly and in battle array. Both the 
Russians and the Austrians were proving worthy antagonists of the 
great Corsican. Further hostiUties were checked by a truce, 
preliminary to a treaty of peace, signed October 14, 1809. 

Ambition, um'estrained by caution, uncontrolled by modera- 
tion, has its inevitable end. An empire built upon victory, trust- 
ing solely to military genius, prepared for itself the elements of 
its overthrow. This fact Napoleon was to learn. In the outset 
of his career he opposed a new art of war to the obsolete one of 
his enemies, and his path to empire was over the corpses of slaugh- 
tered armies and the ruins of fallen kingdoms. But year by year 
his foes learned his art, in war after war their resistance grew 
more stringent, each successive victory was won with more diffi- 
culty and at greater cost, and finally, at the crossing of the Danube, 
the energy and genius of Napoleon met their equal, and the stan- 
dards of France, for the first time under Napoleon's leadership, 
went back in defeat. It was the tocsin of fate. His career of 
victory had culminated. From that day its decline began. 

THE CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN 

The second check to Napoleon's triumphant career came from 
one of the weaker nations of Europe, aided by the British under a 
comanander of renown. Napoleon, as already stated, after overtm*n- 
ing Spain had been caUed away by the Austrian war. This ended 
by the treaty of peace, he filled Spain once more with his veterans, 
increasing the strength of the army there to 300,000 men, under 
his ablest generals, Soult, Massena, Ney, Marmont, Macdonald 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 107 

and others. They marched through Spain from end to end, yet, though 
they held all the salient points, the people refused to submit, but 
from their mountain fastnesses kept up a petty and annoying war. 
Massena invaded Portugal in 1811, but here he was faced by 
General Wellington, leading a British ^army, and was forced to 
retreat. Soult, who followed him, was equally unsuccessful, and 
when Napoleon in 1812 depleted his army in Spain for the Russian 
campaign, Wellington marched his army into Spain and, aided by 
the Spanish patriots, took possession of Madrid, driving king 
Joseph from his throne. 

THE INVASION OF RUSSIA 

Meanwhile Napoleon had entered upon the greatest and most 
disastrous campaign in his history. Defied by Alexander I, Czar 
of Russia, he had declared war upon that empire and sought its 
conquest with the greatest army that ever marched under his 
banners. On the banks of the Niemen, a river that flows between 
Prussia and Poland, there gathered near the end of June, 1812, an 
immense army of more than 600,000 men, attended by an enormous 
multitude of non-combatants, their p^lrpose being the invasion of 
the empire of Russia. Of this great army, made up of troops from 
half the nations of Europe, there reappeared six months later on 
that broad stream about 16,000 armed men, almost all that were 
left of that stupendous host. The remainder had perished on the 
desert soil or in the frozen rivers of Russia, few of them surviving 
as prisoners in Russian hands. Such was the character of the 
dread catastrophe that broke the power of the mighty conqueror 
and delivered Europe from his autocratic grasp. 

We cannot give the details of this fatal campaign, and shall 
only summarize its chief incidents. Barclay de Tolly, Alexander's 
commander in chief, adopted a Fabian policy, that of persistently 
avoiding battle, and keeping the French in pursuit of a fleeting 
will-of-the-wisp while their army wasted away from hardship and 
disease in the inhospitable Russian clime. 



108 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

His method was a wise one, desertion, illness, death of the 
untrained recruits in rapid march under the hot midsummer sun, 
did the work of many battles, and when Smolensk was reached, 
after two months of bootless marching, the "Grand Army" was 
found to have been reduced to half its numbers. 

Moscow, the old capital of the Empire, was Napoleon's goal. 
He felt sure that the occupation of that city would bring the 
Russians to bay and force them to accept terms of peace. He was 
sadly mistaken. The Russians, weary of retreating, faced him in 
one battle, that of Borodino. Here they fought stubbornly, but 
with the usual result. They could not stand against the impetu- 
ous dash of Napoleon's veterans and were forced to retreat, leav- 
ing 40,000 dead and wounded upon the field. But the French 
army had lost more than 30,000, including an unusual number 
of generals, two being killed and thirty-nine wounded. 

A FATAL RETREAT 

On the 15th of September, Moscow, the ''Holy City" of Russia, 
was occupied. Napoleon taking up his quarters in the famous 
palace of the Kremhn, from which he hoped to dictate terms of 
peace to the obstinate Czar. What were his feelings on the next 
morning when word was brought him that Moscow was on fire, and 
flames were seen leaping into the air in all directions. 

The fire had been premeditated. From every quarter rose the 
devouring flames. Even the Kremlin did not escape and Napo- 
leon was obliged to seek shelter outside the city, which continued 
to burn for three days, when the wind sank and rain poured upon 
the smoldering embers. 

The dismayed conqueror waited in vain. He wrote letters to 
the Czar, suggesting peace. His letters were left unanswered. 
He hung on despairingly until the 18th of October, when he reluc- 
tantly gave the order to retreat. Too long he had waited, for the 
terrible Russian winter was about to descend. 

That retreat was a frightful one. The army had been reduced 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 109 

« 
to 103,000 men; the army followers had also greatly decreased in 

numbers. But it was still a large host that set out upon its long 

march over the frozen Russian plains. 

The Russian policy now changed. The retreating army was 
attacked at every suitable point. The food supply rapidly failed. 
On again reaching Smolensk the army was only 42,000 strong, 
though the camp followers are said to have still numbered 
60,000. 

On the 26th of November the ice-cold river Beresina was 
reached, destined to be the most terrible point on the whole dread- 
ful march. Two bridges were thrown in all haste across the 
stream, and most of the men under arms crossed, but 18,000 
stragglers fell into the hands of the enemy. How many were 
trodden to death in the press or were crowded from the bridge into 
the icy river cannot be told. It is said that when spring thawed 
the ice 30,000 bodies were found and burned on the banks of the 
stream. A mere fragment of the great army remained alive. 
Ney, who had been the hero of the retreat, was the last man to 
cross that frightful stream. 

On the 13th of December some 16,000 haggard and staggering 
men, almost too weak to hold the arms to which they still despair- 
ingly climg, recrossed the Niemen, which the "Grand Army" had 
passed in such magnificent strength and with such abounding 
resources less than six months before. It was the greatest and 
most astounding disaster in the military history of the world. 

DRESDEN AND LEIPZIG 

The lion was at bay, but there was fight left in him still. He 
hurried back to France, gathered another army, refused all offers 
of peace on the terms suggested by his enemies, and concentrated 
an army at Dresden. Here, on August 26, 1813, his last great 
victory was won. 

The final stand came at Leipzig, where, October 16-18, he 
waged a three days' battle against all the powers of central and 



no THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM , 

eastern Europe. Then, his ammunition nearly exhausted, he was 
forced to give the order to retreat. 

The struggle was soon at an end. France was quickly 
invaded, Paris was obliged to surrender, and on April 7, 1814, the 
emperor signed an act of abdication and was exiled to the small 
island of Elba, in the Mediterranean, with an army of 400 men, 
chosen from his famous Old Guard. 

But the Powers of Europe, despite their long experience of 
Napoleon, did not yet recognize the ability and audacity of the 
man with whom they had to deal. While the Congress of Vienna, 
convened to restore the old constitution of Europe, was deliberating 
and disputing, word came that their dethroned enemy was again 
on the soil of France and Louis XVIII, his successor, was in full 
flight. He had landed on March 1, 1815, and was marching back 
to Paris, the people and the army rallying to his support. 

THE HUNDRED DAYS 

Then came the famous Hundred Days, in which Napoleon 
showed much of his old ability, rapidly organizing a new army, 
with which in June he marched into Belgiiun, where the British 
under Wellington and the Prussians under Bliicher had gathered to 
meet him. 

On the 16th he defeated Bliicher at Ligny. On the 18th he 
met Wellington at Waterloo, and after a desperate struggle went 
down in utter defeat. All day long the French and British had 
fought without victory for either, but the arrival of Blucher with 
his Prussians turned the scale. The French army broke and fled 
in disastrous rout, three-fourths of its force being left on the field, 
dead, wounded or prisoners. It was the great soldier's last fight. 
He was forced to surrender the throne, and was again exiled, this 
time to the island of St. Helena, in the south Atlantic. No such 
mistake as that of Elba was safe to make again. Here ended the 
days of Napoleon Bonaparte, the greatest soldier the world had 
ever known. His final hour of glory came in 1842, when his 



THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 111 

remains were brought in pomp to Paris, there to find a final resting- 
place in the Hotel des Invalides. 

THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA 

This Congress of the rulers and statesmen of Europe, which 
opened in September, 1814, and continued its work after the fall 
of Napoleon at Waterloo, occupied itself with map-making on a 
liberal scale. The empire which the conqueror had built up at the 
expense of the neighboring countries, was quickly dismembered 
and France reduced to its former limits, while all the surrounding 
Powers took their shares of the spoils, Belgium and Holland being 
combined into a single kingdom. 

As for the rights of the people, what had become of them? 
Had they been swept away and the old wrongs of the people 
brought back? Not quite. The frenzied enthusiasm for liberty 
and human rights of the past twenty-five years could not go 
altogether for nothing. The lingering rehcs of feudalism had 
vanished, not only from France but from all Europe, and no mon- 
arch or congress could bring them back again. In its place the 
principles of democracy had been carried by the armies of France 
throughout Europe and deeply planted in a hundred places, and 
their establishment as actual conditions was the most important 
part of the political development of the nineteenth century. 

THE HOLY ALLIANCE 

Map-making was not the whole work of the Congress of 
Vienna. An association was made of the rulers of Russia, Austria 
and Prussia, imder the promising title of the "Holy Alliance." 
These devout autocrats proposed to rule in accordance with the 
precepts of the Bible, to govern their subjects Hke loving parents, 
and to see that peace, justice and religion should flourish in their 
dominions. 

Such was the theory, the real purpose was one of absolute 
dominion, that of uniting their forces against democracy and 



112 THE EARTHQUAKE OF NAPOLEONISM 

revolution wherever these should show themselves. It was not long 
before there was work for them to do. The people began to move. 
The attempt to re-establish absolute governments shook them out 
of sluggish acceptance. Revolution lifted its head in spite of 
the Holy AlUance, its first field being Spain. Revolt broke out 
there in 1820 and was quickly followed by a similar revolt in 
Naples. 

These revolutionary movements roused the members of the 
AlUance. An Austrian army invaded Italy, a French one, under 
the influence of the Alliance, was sent to Spain, and both the 
revolutions were vigorously quelled. The only revolt that suc- 
ceeded was one in Greece against the Turkish power. There was 
no desire to sustain the Turks, and a Russian army was finally sent 
to aid the Greeks, whose freedom was attained in April, 1830. 

Such were the chief events that followed the fall of Napoleon. 
Reaction was the order of the day. But it was a reaction that was 
to be violently shaken in the period now reached, the revolutionary 
year of 1830. 



CHAPTER VII 
Pan-Slavism Versus Pan-Germanism 

Russia's Part in the Servian Issue — Strength of the Russian Army — The Distribution 

of the Slavs — Origin of Pan-Slavism — The Czar's Proclamation — The Teutons of 

Europe — Intermingliug of Races — The Nations at War. 

PAN-SLAVISM against Pan-Germanism was the issue which 
was launched when the Emperor of all the Russias took 
up Servia's quarrel with Austria-Hungary. Russia, if she 
wanted a ground for war, could have foimd no better one. The 
popularity of her aggressive big-brother attitude to all the Slavs 
was quickly attested in St. Petersburg. It had been a long time 
since war had appealed with the same favor to so large a part of 
the Czar's people. Slavs there were in plenty to menace the alhed 
German Powers, even if there were not allied French arms, on 
Germany's other flank, and Britain's naval supremacy to cope with. 
Slavs in past times had spread over all of eastern Europe, from 
the Arctic to the Adriatic and the iEgean Seas. Their continuity 
was long ago broken into by an intrusion of Magyars, Finns, and 
Roumanians, leaving a northern Slavic section composed of North 
Russians, Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks, and a southern section com- 
prising the main body of the Balkan people. For over a thousand 
years these Slavs have peopled Europe east of the Elbe River. 
And for centuries they kept the hordes of Cossacks, Turks and bar- 
barians off Europe. Russia in those days was called "the nation 
of the sword." And over a hundred years ago that sword was 
drawn for Servia. After 400 years of vassalage to Turkey, the 
Serbs rebelled in 1804, and then only Russian intervention saved 
them from defeat. In later wars oppression of the Slavs was 
a proniinent issue. 

(113) 



114 PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 

KUSSIA's part in the SERVIAN ISSUE 

What rendered the Russian menace so formidable at the 
opening of the 1914 war was the unusual enthusiasm which was 
displayed. Ordinarily, the huge population of Russia has been 
rather apathetic toward the purposes of the Emperor. But in 
the case of Austria's injustice to Servia the Czar, judging from the 
demonstrations in St. Petersburg, could reasonably count upon 
having behind him possibly 100,000,000 Slavs among his subjects. 
Moscow and Odessa gave similar demonstrations of good feehng, 
and it seemed as if, in the event of the Czar's assuming command 
as generalissimo of all the forces, the wave of enthusiasm would 
sweep over the whole empire. Who knows what is the strength 
of the Russian bear, on<3.'e he is roused to sullen fury? In the ten 
years following the Russo-Japanese War Russia had greatly added 
to her army and navy, and materially cut down the time required 
for the mobilization of her forces by eliminating many of the diffi- 
culties attendant upon transportation and equipment of troops. 
Her quiet advances toward becoming a Power to be feared by 
the most formidable European nation had come to be recognized 
even if in a vague way. 

In considering the potential strength of the armies which 
Russia, in the course of a long war, might put in the field, it may 
be pointed out that military service in that empire of more than 
160,000,000 people is universal and compulsory. Service under 
the flag begins at the age of twenty and lasts for twenty-three 
years. Usually it is proportioned as follows: Three or four years 
in the active army, fourteen or fifteen in the Zapas, or first reserve, 
and five years in the Opolchenie, or second reserve. For the 
Cossacks, those fighters who are a conspicuous element of Russia's 
military strength, there is hardly a cessation in discipline during 
their early manhood. Holding their lands by military tenure, 
they are liable to service for life. Furnishing their own equip- 
ment and horses — the Cossack is almost invariably a cavalryman — 
they pass through three periods of four years each, with diminish- 



PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 115 

ing duties, until they wind up in the reserve, which is liable to be 
called into the field in time of war. 

STEENGTH OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY 

Russia's field army consists of three powerful divisions — the 
army of European Russia, the army of Asia, already referred to, 
and the army of the Caucasus. The European Russian field army 
consists of twenty-seven army corps — each corps comprising, at 
fighting strength, about 36,000 men — and some twenty-odd cavalry 
divisions, of 4,000 horsemen each. With the field army of the 
Caucasus and the first and second reserve divisions of the Cossacks, 
the total would be brought to nearly 1,600,000 men. With the 
Asiatic army, the grand total, according to the latest figures, would 
give the Russian armies a fighting strength of 1,850,000 men, of 
whom it would be practicable to assemble, say, 1,200,000 in a 
single theater of war. With respect to the armies which could be 
put in the field in time of urgent demand, there are conflicting 
estimates. It seems certain that Russia's war strength is more 
than 5,500,000 men, but, of course, the train service and the artil- 
lery for such a force is lacking. Two and three-quarter milUon 
men could probably be mustered at one time. 

In the event of a prolonged war, in which the tide of affairs 
should put Russia strictly on the defensive, she would be less easily 
invaded than any large country of Europe. The very extent of 
her empire, protected by natural barriers at almost every side 
save where she touches Northeast Europe, would present almost 
insuperable difficulties to the invader. Napoleon paid dearly for 
his fortitude in pushing his columns into Moscow. The only 
conditions under which a repetition of such a feat is conceivable 
were not likely to be found during a general European struggle. 

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SLAVS 

To make matters worse for the Austrian or German invader, 
there are conflicting relations between their own people and the 



116 PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 

Russians. The Polish provinces, for instance, however unfriendly 
toward Russia, as one of the dismemberers of the Polish kingdom, 
are strongly bound in blood and speech to the Russian nation. 
The Poles and Russians are brother Slavs, and are likely to remem- 
ber this in any conflict which approaches an issue between Pan- 
Germanism and Pan-Slavism. The Poles of East Prussia have 
an ingrained hatred of their German masters and have been 
embittered by political oppression almost to the point of revolt. 
Those along Austria's eastern border are little less bitter. 

The estmiate is made that Europe contains in all about 
140,000,000 Slavs, this being the most numerous race on the con- 
tinent, the Teutons ranking second. While the great bulk of 
these are natives of Russia, they have penetrated in large num- 
bers to the west and south, and are to be found abundantly in the 
Ballcan region, in the Austrian reahn, and in the region of the 
disintegrated kingdom of Poland. 

According to recent authoritative statistics the race question 
in Austria-Hungary is decidedly comphcated and diversified In 
the kingdoms and provinces represented in the Reichsrath in 
Vienna there are nearly 10,000,000 Germans and 18,500,000 
non-Gemians. Of these nearly 17,500,000 are Slavs. Among 
these Slavs, the Croats and Serbs number 780,000, chiefly in Dal- 
matia, while there are in all 660,000 Orthodox and nearly 3,500,000 
Greek Uniats. 

In Hungary, with its subject kingdoms of Croatia and Sla- 
vonia, there are 8,750,000 Magyars, 2,000,000 Germans, and 
8,000,000 other non-Magyars. Of these, 3,000,000 are Roumanians 
and well over 5,000,000 Slavs. The Croats, or Roman Catholic 
Serbs, number 1,800,000, and their Orthodox brothers are 1,100,000 
in number. All told, Hungary has nearly 11,000,000 Roman Cath- 
ohc subjects, 2,000,000 Greek Uniats, and 3,000,000 Orthodox. 
In this connection it should be remembered that the Patriarchate 
of the Orthodox Serb Church has been fixed at Karlowitz, mider 
Hungarian rule, for over two centuries. 



PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 117 

In Bosnia there are 434,000 Roman Catholic Croats, 825,000 
Orthodox Serbs, and over 600,000 Bosniaks, or Moslem Serbs. 
Thus it will be seen that the Emperor Francis Joseph rules over 
more than 24,000,000 Slavs and 3,225,000 Roimaanians, of whom 
nearly 4,500,000 adhere to various Orthodox Churches and 5,400,000 
are Uniats. Of this Slav mass 5,000,000 Poles, mostly Roman 
Catholics, are not particularly susceptible to Pan-Slav propaganda, 
as that is largely Russian and Orthodox. 

Within the boundaries of Germany herself there are over 
3,000,000 Slavs, chiefly Poles, the Slavs of Polish descent in all 
being estimated at 15,000,000. To these must be added the Bul- 
garians, Serbs and Montenegrins of the Balkan region, constituting 
about 7,000,000 more. 

^ORIGIN OF PAN-SLAVISM 

The term Pan-Slavism has been given to the agitation carried 
on by a great party in Russia, its purpose being the union of the 
Slavic peoples of Europe under Russian rule, as an extensive 
racial empire. This movement originated about 1830, when the 
feeling of race relationship in Russia was stirred up by the revolu- 
tionary movement in Poland. It gained renewed strength from 
the Polish revolution of 1863, and still survives as the slogan of 
an ardent party. The ideals of Pan-Slavism have made their 
way into the Slavic populations of Bohemia, Silesia, Croatia and 
Slavonia, where there is dread of the members of the race losing 
their individuality under the aggressive action of the Austrian, 
German or Hungarian governments. In 1877-78 Russia entered 
into war against Turkey as the champion of the Balkan Slavs. 
A similar movement was that made in 1914, when the independence 
of the Servian Slavs was threatened by Austria. The immediate 
steps taken by Russia to mobihze her forces in protection of the 
Serbs was followed as immediately by a declaration of war on the 
part of the German emperor and the quick plunging of practically 
the whole of Europe into a war. 



118 PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 

THE czar's PROCLAJMATION 

In this connection the proclamation made by the Russian 
Czar to his people on August 3d, possesses much interest, as indi- 
cating his Slavic sentiment. The text is as follows: 

"By the grace of God we, Nicholas II, Emperor and Auto- 
crat of all the Russias, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Fin- 
land, etc., to all our faithful subjects make known that Russia, 
related by faith and blood to the Slav peoples and faithful to her 
historical traditions, has never regarded their fate with indifference. 

"But the fraternal sentiments of the Russian people for the 
Slavs have been awakened with perfect unanimity and extraor- 
dinary force in these last few days, when Austria-Hungary know- 
ingly addressed to Servia claims unacceptable to an independent 
State. 

"Having paid no attention to the pacific and concihatory 
reply of the Servian Government and having rejected the benevolent 
intervention of Russia, Austria-Hungary made haste to proceed to 
an armed attack and began to bombard Belgrade, an open place. 

"Forced by the situation thus created to take necessary meas- 
ures of precaution, we ordered the army and the navy put on a 
war footing, at the same time using every endeavor to obtain a 
peaceful solution. Pourparlers were begun amid friendly relations 
with Germany and her ally, Austria, for the blood and the prop- 
erty of our subjects were dear to us. 

"Contrary to our hopes in our good neighborly relations of 
long date, and disregarding our assurances that the mobilization 
measures taken were in pursuance of no object hostile to her, 
Germany demanded their immediate cessation. Being rebuffed 
in this demand, Germany suddenly declared war on Russia. 

"Today it is not only the protection of a country related to 
us and unjustly attacked that must be accorded, but we must 
safeguard the honor, the dignity and the integrity of Russia and 
her position among the Great Powers. 



PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 119 

*'We believe unshakably that all our faithful subjects will 
rise with unanimity and devotion for the defense of Russian soil; 
that internal discord will be forgotten in this threatening hour; 
that the unity of the Emperor with his people will become still 
more close and that Russia, rising like one man, will repulse the 
insolent attack of the enemy. 

"With a profound faith in the justice of our work and with 
a humble hope in omnipotent providence in prayer we call God's 
blessing on holy Russia and her vahant troops. 

"Nicholas." 

Later than this wais an appeal made by the Czar to the Poles 
under his rule, asking for their earnest support in the war arising 
from the cause above stated, and promising them the boon which 
the Polish people have long coveted: that of self-government and 
a practical acknowledgment of their national existence. 

THE TEUTONS OF EUROPE 

While the Slavs form the great bulk of the inhabitants of 
eastern Europe, the Teutons, or people of Teutonic race and 
language, are widely spread in the west and north, including the 
German-speaking people of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Switzer- 
land, the English-speaking people of the British Islands (in a very 
far-away sense), the Scandinavian-speaking people of Norway and 
Sweden, the Flemish-speaking people of Belgium, and practically 
the whole people of Denmark and Holland. Yet though these are 
racially related there is no such feeling as a Pan-Teutonic sentiment 
combining them into a racial unity. Instead of community and 
fraternity, a very marked racial and natural divergence exists 
between the several peoples named, especially between the British 
and Germans. Pan-Germanism is not Pan-Teutonism in any 
proper sense, being confined to the several German countries of 
Europe, and especially to the combination of states in the German 
Empire. It is the Teuton considered in this minor sense that 



120 PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 

has set himself against the Slav, as a measure of self-defense 
against the torrent of Slavism apparently seeking an outlet in all 
directions. 

ProUfic as we know the Anglo-Saxons to have once been and 
as the Germans still appear to be, there are few instances in human 
history of a natural growth of population like that of the Slavs 
in recent years. They have grown to outnumber the Germans 
nearly three to one, and may perhaps do so in the future in a still 
greater proportion. 

This is a scarcely desirable state of affairs in view of the fact 
that the Slavs as a whole are lower and more primitive in char- 
acter and condition than the Germans. The cultivated portion of 
Slavic populations forms a very small proportion in number of 
the whole, and stands far in advance of the abundant multitude 
of peasants and artisans, a vast body of people who are ruled 
chiefly by fear; fear of the State on one side, of the Church on 
the other. 

INTERMINGLING OF RACES 

There h^as long been an embittered, remorseless, and often 
bloody struggle for supremacy between the Teuton and the Slav, 
yet there has been considerable intermingling of the races, many 
German traders making their way into Russian towns, while multi- 
tudes of Slavic laborers have penetrated into German communities. 
Eastern Prussia has large populations of Slavs, and its PoUsh sub- 
jects in Posen have been persistently non-assimilable. But only 
within recent times has there arisen a passion to "Russianize" 
all foreign elements in the one nation and on the other hand to 
"Germanize" all similar foreign elements in the other. Austria- 
Hungary is the most remarkable combination of unrelated peoples 
ever got together to make part of a state, and is especially notable 
for its many separate groups of Slavs. Bohemia, for instance, 
has a very large majority of Slavic population, eager to be recog- 
nized as such, and there are Slavic populations somewhat indis- 




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PAN-SLAVISM VERSUS PAN-GERMANISM 121 

criminately scattered throughout the dual-monarchy, especially in 
Hungary. 

These Slavic populations, however, differ widely in religious 
belief. While largely of the Greek confession of faith, a consider- 
able section of them are Roman Catholics, and many are faithful 
Mohammedans. This difference in religion plays a major part in 
their political relations, a greater one than any feeling of nationaUty 
and racial imity, and aids greatly in adding to the diversity of con- 
dition and sentiment among these mixed populations. 

THE NATIONS AT WAR 

In the war which sprang so suddenly and startlingly into the 
field of events in 1914 very little of this sentiment of race animos- 
ity appeared. While the German element remained intact in the 
union of Germany and Austria, there was a strange mingling of races 
in the other side of the struggle, that of the Slavic Russian, the 
Teutonic Britain, and the Celtic French. As for Italy, the non- 
Germanic member of the Triple Alliance, it at first wisely declared 
itself out of the war, as one in which it was in no sense concerned 
and under no obligation to enter into from the terms of its alliance. 
Later events tended to bring it into sympathy with the non- 
Germanic side, as a result of enmity to Austria. So the conflict 
became narrowed down to a struggle between Pan-Germanism on 
the one hand and a variety of unrelated racial elements on the 
other. It may be that Emperor William had a secret purpose 
to unite, if possible, all German-speaking peoples under his single 
sway and that Czar Nicholas had similar views regarding a union 
of the Slavs, but as they did not [take the world into their 
confidence no one can say what plans and ambitions lay hidden in 
their mental treasure chests. In this connection it is certainly 
of interest that three of the leaders in this five-fold war were 
near relatives, the Czar, the Kaiser and the British King being 
cousins and all of Teutonic blood. This is a result of the inter- 
marriage of royal families in these later days. 



CHAPTER VIII 
The Ambition of Louis Napoleon 

The Final Overthrow of Napoleonism 

The Coup-d'etat of 1851— From President to Emperor— The Empire is Peace— War 
With Austria— The Aiistrians Advance— The Battle of Magenta— Possession of Lom- 
bardy— French Victory at Solferino— Treaty of Peace— Invasion of Mexico— End of 

Napoleon's Career. 



^ 



HE name of Napoleon is a name to conjure with in France. 
■ Two generations after the fall of Napoleon the Great the 
-*" people of that country had practically forgotten the misery 
he had brought them, and remembered only the glory with which 
he had crowned the name of France. When, then, a man who has 
been designated as Napoleon the Little offered himself for their 
suffrages, they cast their votes almost unanimously in his favor. 

Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, to give this personage his 
full name, was a son of Louis Bonaparte, once king of Holland, and 
Hortense de Beauharnais, and had been recognized by Napoleon 
as, after his father, the direct successor to the throne. This he 
made strenuous efforts to obtain, hoping to dethrone Louis 
Phihppe and install himseK in his place. In 1836, with a few 
followers, he made an attempt to capture Strasbourg. His effort 
failed and he was arrested and transported to the United States. 
In 1839 he pubHshed a work entitled ''Napoleonic Ideas," which 
was an apology for the ambitious acts of the first Napoleon. 

The growing unpopularity of Louis PhiUppe tempted Louis 
Napoleon to make a second attempt to invade France. He did it 
in a rash way almost certain to end in failure. Followed by about 
fifty men, and bringing with him a tame eagle, which was expected 
to perch upon his banner as the harbinger of victory, he sailed 
from England in August, 1840, and landed at Boulogne. This 
desperate and foolish enterprise proved a complete failure. The 

(122) 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 123 

soldiers whom the would-be sovereign expected to join his standard 
arrested him, and he was tried for treason by the House of Peers. 
This time he was not dealt with so leniently as before, but was 
sentenced to imprisonment for Hfe and was confined in the Castle 
of Ham. From this fortress he escaped in disguise in May, 1846, 
and made his way to England. 

The revolution of 1848 gave the restless and ambitious claim- 
ant a more promising opportunity. He returned to France, was 
elected to the National Assembly, and on the adoption of the 
republican constitution offered himself as a candidate for the 
presidency of the new repubhc. And now the magic of the name 
of Napoleon told. General Cavaignac, his chief competitor, was 
supported by the soHd men of the country, who distrusted his 
opponent; but the people rose almost solidly in his support, and 
he was elected president for four years by 5,562,834 votes^ against 
1,469,166 for Cavaignac. 

The new President of France soon showed his ambition. He 
became engaged in a contest with the Assembly and aroused the 
distrust of the Repubhcans by his autocratic remarks. In 1849 he 
still further offended the democratic party by sending an army to 
Rome, which put an end to the republic in that city. He sought 
to make his cabinet officers the pHant instruments of his will, and 
thus caused De Tocqueville, the celebrated author, who was 
minister for foreign affairs, to resign. "We were not the men to 
serve him on those terms," said De Tocqueville, at a later time. 

The new-made president was feeling his way to imperial 
dignity. He could not forget that his illustrious uncle had made 
himself emperor, and his ambition instigated him to the same 
course. A violent controversy arose between him and the 
Assembly, which body had passed a law restricting universal suf- 
frage, thus reducing the popular support of the president. In June, 
1850, it increased his salary at his request, but granted the iacrease 
only for one year — an act of distrust which proved a new source of 
discord. 



124 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

THE "coup d':6tat" of 1851 

Louis Napoleon meanwhile was preparing for a daring act. 
He secretly obtained the support of the army leaders and pre- 
pared covertly for the boldest stroke of his life. On the 2d of 
December, 1851 — the anniversary of the establishment of the 
first empire and of the battle of Austerlitz — he got rid of his 
opponents by means of the memorable cowp d'etat, and seized the 
supreme power of the state. 

The most influential members of the Assembly had been 
arrested during the preceding night, and when the hour for the 
session of the House came the men most strongly opposed to the 
President were in prison. Most of them were afterwards exiled, 
some for hfe, some for shorter terms. This act of outrage and 
alleged violation of plighted faith by their ruler roused the socialists 
and republicans to the defense of their threatened Hberties, insur- 
rections broke out in Paris, Lyons, and other towns, street barricades 
were built, and severe fighting took place. But Napoleon had 
secured the army, and the revolt was suppressed with blood and 
slaughter. Baudin, one of the deposed deputies, was shot on the 
barricade in the Faubourg St. Antoine, while waving in his hand the 
decree of the constitution. He was afterwards honored as a martyr 
to the cause of republicanism in France. 

Napoleon had previously sought to gain the approval of the 
people by liberal and charitable acts, and to win the good will 
of the civic authorities by numerous progresses through the 
interior. He now stood as a protector and promoter of national 
prosperity and the rights of the people, and sought to lay upon the 
Assembly all the defects of his administration. By these means, 
which aided to awaken the Napoleonic fervor in the state, he was 
enabled safely to submit his acts of violence and bloodshed to the 
approval of the people. The new constitution offered by the 
president was put to vote, and was adopted by the enormous 
majority of more than seven milUon votes. By its terms Louis 
Napoleon was to be president of France for ten years, with power 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 125 

equal to that of a monarch, and the ParUament was to consist of 
two bodies, a Senate and a Legislative House, which were given 
only nominal power. 

FEOM PRESIDENT TO EMPEROR 

This was as far as Napoleon dared to venture at that time. 
A year later, on December 1, 1852, having meanwhile firmly 
cemented his position in the state, he passed from president to 
emperor, again by a vote of the people, of whom, according to the 
official report, 7,824,189 cast their votes in his favor. That this 
report told the truth, many denied, but it served the President's 
purpose. 

Thus ended the second French republic, by an act of usurpa- 
tion of the strongest and yet most popular character. The partisans 
of the new emperor were rewarded with the chief offices of the 
state; the leading republicans languished in prison or in exile for 
the crime of doing their duty to their constituents; and Armand 
Marrast, the most zealous champion of the republic, died of a 
broken heart from the overthrow of all his efforts and aspirations. 
The honest soldier and earnest patriot, Cavaignac, in a few years 
followed him to the grave. The cause of liberty in France seemed 
lost. 

The crowning of a new emperor of the Napoleonic family in 
France naturally filled Europe with apprehensions. But Napo- 
leon III, as he styled himself, was an older man than Napoleon I, 
and seemingly less likely to be carried away by ambition. His 
favorite motto, ''The Empire is peace," aided to restore quietude, 
and gradually the nations began to trust in his words: "France 
wishes for peace; and when France is satisfied the world is quiet." 

Warned by one of the errors of his uncle, he avoided seeking a 
wife in the royal famiUes of Europe, but allied himself with a 
Spanish lady of noble rank, the young and beautiful Eugenie de 
Montijo, duchess of Teba. At the same time he proclaimed that, 
"A sovereign raised to the throne by a new principle should remain 



126 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

faithful to that principle, and in the face of Europe frankly accept 
the position of a parvenu, which is an honorable title when it is 
obtained by the public suffrage of a great people. For seventy 
years all princes' daughters married to rulers of France have been 
unfortunate; only one, Josephine, was remembered with affection 
by the French people, and she was not born of a royal house." 

The new emperor continued his efforts as president to win 
the approval of the people by public works. He recognized the 
necessity of aiding the working classes as far as possible, and pro- 
tecting them from poverty and wretchedness. During a dearth 
in 1853 a "baldng fund" was organized in Paris, the city con- 
tributing funds to enable bread to be sold at a low price. Dams 
and embanlanents were built along the rivers to overcome the 
effects of floods. New streets were opened, bridges built, railways 
constructed, to increase internal traffic. Splendid buildings were 
erected for municipal and government purposes. Paris was given 
a new aspect by pulling down its narrow lanes, and building wide 
streets and magnificent boulevards — the latter, as was charged, for 
the purpose of depriving insurrection of its lurking places. The 
great exhibition of arts and industries in London was followed in 
1854 by one in France, the largest and finest seen up to that time. 
Trade and industry were fostered by a reduction of tariff charges, 
joint stock companies and credit associations were favored, and 
in many ways Napoleon III worked wisely and well for the 
prosperity of France, the growth of its industries, and the improve- 
ment of the condition of its people. 

THE EMPIRE IS PEACE 

But the new emperor, while thus actively engaged in labors 
of peace, by no means lived up to the spirit of his motto, ''The 
Empire is peace." An empire founded upon the army needs to 
give emplo}Tiient to that army. A monarchy sustained by the 
votes of a people atliirst for gioiy needs to do something to appease 
that thirst. A throne filled by a Napoleon could not safely ignore 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 127 

the "Napoleonic Ideas," and the first of these might be stated as 
"The Empire is war." And the new emperor was by no means 
satisfied to pose simply as the "nephew of his imcle." He pos- 
sessed a large share of the Napoleonic ambition, and hoped by 
mihtary glory to surround his throne with some of the luster of 
that of Napoleon the First. 

Whatever his private views, it is certain that France under 
his reign became the most aggressive nation of Europe, and the 
overweening ambition and self-confidence of the new emperor led 
him to the same end as his great uncle, that of disaster and 
overthrow. He was evidently bent on playing a leading part in 
European pohtics, showing the world that one worthy to bear the 
name of Napoleon was on the throne. 

The very beginning of Louis Napoleon's career of ambition, as 
president of the French Republic, was signalized by an act of 
mihtary force, in sending an army to Rome and putting an end 
to the attempted ItaHan repubhc. These troops were kept there 
until 1866, and the aspirations of the Italian patriots were held in 
check until that year. Only when United Italy stood menacingly 
at the gates of Rome were these foreign troops withdrawn. They 
had retarded, perhaps, for a time the inevitable union of the ItaHan 
states into a single kingdom; they certainly prevented the estab- 
lishment of a repubhc. 

In 1854, Napoleon aUied himself with the British and the Turks 
against Russia, and sent an army to the Crimea, which played an 
effective part in the great struggle in that peninsula. The troops 
of France had the honor of rendering Sebastopol untenable, carry- 
ing by storm one of its two great fortresses and turning its guns 
upon the city. 

WAR WITH AUSTRIA 

The next act of war-pohcy by the French emperor was against 
Austria. As the career of conquest of Napoleon I had begun with 
an attack upon the Austrians in Italy, Napoleon III attempted 



128 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

a similar enterprise, and with equal success. He was said to have 
been cautiously preparing for hostiUties Y\^ith Austria, thus to 
emulate his great uncle, but lacked a satisfactory excuse for declaring 
war. This came in 1858 from an attempt at assassination. FeHce 
Orsini, a fanatical Italian patriot, incensed at Napoleon from his 
failing to come to the aid of Italy, launched three explosive bombs 
against his carriage. The effect was fatal to many of the people in 
the street, though the intended victim escaped. Orsini while in 
prison expressed patriotic sentiments and a loud-voiced love for his 
country. "Remember that the ItaHans shed their blood for Napo- 
leon the Great," he wrote to the emperor. "Liberate my country, 
and the blessings of twenty-five millions of people will follow you 
to posterity." 

Louis Napoleon, it was alleged, had once been a member of a 
secret political society of Italy; he had taken the oath of initiation; 
his failure to come to the aid of that country when in power consti- 
tuted him a traitor to his oath and one doomed to death; the act of 
Orsini was apparently the work of the society. That Napoleon was 
deeply moved by the attempted assassination is certain, and the 
result of his combined fear and ambition was soon to be shown by a 
movement in favor of Italian independence. 

On New Year's Day, 1859, while receiving the diplomatic 
corps at the Tuileries, Napoleon addressed the following significant 
words to the Austrian ambassador: "I regret that our relations 
are not so cordial as I could wish, but I beg you to report to the 
Emperor that my personal sentiments towards him remain 
unaltered." 

Such is the masked way in which diplomats tinnounce an 
intention of war. The meaning of the threatening words was 
soon shown, when Victor Enunanuel, shortly afterwards, announced 
at the opening of the Chambers in Turin that Sardinia could no 
longer remain indifferent to the cry for help which was rising from 
all Italy. Ten years had passed since the defeat of the Sardinians 
by an Austrian army on the plains of Lombardy, and the end for 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 129 

the time of their hopes of a free and united Italy. During that 
time they had cherished a hope of retribution, and the words of 
Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel made it evident to them that an 
alliance had been made with France and that the hour of vengeance 
was at hand. 

Austria was ready for the contest. Her finances, indeed, were 
in a serious state, but she had a large army in Lombardy. This was 
increased, Lombardy was declared in a state of siege, and every 
step was taken to guard against assault from Sardinia. Delay was 
disadvantageous to Austria, as it would permit her enemies to com- 
plete their preparations, and on April 23, 1859, an ultimatum came 
from Vienna, demanding that Sardinia should put her army on 
a peace footing or war would ensue. 

THE AUSTRIANS ADVANCE 

A refusal came from Turin. Immediately Field-marshal 
Gyulai received orders to cross the Ticino. Thus, after ten years 
of peace, the beautiful plains of Northern Italy were once more 
to endure the ravages of war. This act of Austria was severely 
criticized by the neutral Powers, which had been seeking to allay 
the trouble. Napoleon took advantage of it, as an aid to his pur- 
poses, and accused Austria of breaking the peace by invading the 
territory of his ally, the king of Sardinia. 

The real fault committed by Austria, under the circumstances, 
was not in precipitating war, which could not well be avoided in the 
temper of her antagonists, but in putting, through court favor and 
privileges of rank, an incapable leader at the head of the army. 
Old Radetzky, the victor in the last war, was dead, but there were 
other able leaders who were thrust aside in favor of the Himgarian 
noble Franz Gyulai, a man without experience as commander- 
in-chief of an army. 

By his uncertain and dilatory movements Gyulai gave the 
Sardinians time to concentrate an army of 80,000 men around the 
fortress of Alessandria, and lost all the advantage of being the first 



130 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

in the field. In early May the French army reached Italy, partly 
by way of the St. Bernard Pass, partly by sea; and Garibaldi, with 
his mountaineers, took up a position that would enable him to attack 
the right wing of the Austrians. 

Later in the month Napoleon himself appeared, his presence 
and the name he bore inspiring the soldiers with new valor, while 
his first order of the day, in which he recalled the glorious deeds 
which their fathers had done on those plains under his great uncle, 
roused them to the highest enthusiasm. While assuming the title 
of commander-in-chief, he was wise enough to leave the conduct 
of the war to his abler subordinates, MacMahon, Niel, and others. 

The Austrian general, having lost the opportunity to attack, 
was now put on the defensive, in which his incompetence was equally 
manifested. Being quite ignorant of the position of the foe, he sent 
Count Stadion, with 12,000 men, on a reconnaissance. An encoimter 
took place at Montebello on May 20th, in which, after a sharp 
engagement, Stadion was forced to retreat. Gyulai directed his 
attention to that quarter, leaving Napoleon to march unmolested 
from Alessandria to the invasion of Lombardy. Gyulai then, 
aroused by the danger of Milan, began his retreat across the Ticino, 
which he had so uselessly crossed. 

The road to Milan crossed both the Ticino River and the 
Naviglio Grande, a broad and deep canal a few miles east of the 
river. Some distance farther on lies the village of Magenta, the 
seat of the first great battle of the war. Sixty years before, on 
those Lombard plains. Napoleon the Great had first lost, and 
then, by a happy chance, won the famous battle of Marengo. The 
Napoleon now in command was a very different man from the 
mighty soldier of the year 1800, and the French escaped a dis- 
astrous rout only because the Austrians were led by a still worse 
general. Some one has said that victory comes to the army that 
makes the fewest blunders. Such seems to have been the ease 
in the battle of Magenta, where military genius was the one 
thing wanting. 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 131 

The French pushed on, crossed the river without finding a 
man to dispute the passage — other than a much-surprised customs 
official — and reached an undefended bridge across the canal. 
The high road to Milan seemed deserted by the Austrians. But 
Napoleon's troops were drawn out in a preposterous line, straddling 
a river and a canal, both difficult to cross, and without any defen- 
sive positions to hold against an attack in force. He supposed that 
the Austrians were stretched out in a similar long line. This was 
not the case. Gyulai had all the advantages of position, and 
might have concentrated his army and crushed the advanced corps 
of the French if he had known his situation and his business. As 
it was, between ignorance on the one hand and indecision on the 
other, the battle was fought with about equal forces in the field 
on either side. 

The first contest took place at Buifalora, a village on the 
canal, where the French encountered the Austrians in force. Here 
a bloody struggle went on for hours, ending in the capture of the 
place by the Grenadiers of the Guard, who held on to it after- 
wards with stubborn courage. 

THE BATTLE OF MAGENTA 

General MacMahon, in command of the advance, had his 
orders to march forward, whatever happened, to the church-tower 
of Magenta, and, in strict obedience to orders, he pushed on, 
leaving the grenadiers to hold their own as best they could at Buf- 
falora, and heedless of the fact that the reserve troops of the army 
had not yet begun to cross the river. It was the 5th of June, and 
the day was well advanced when MacMahon came in contact 
with the Austrians at Magenta, and the great contest of the day 
began. 

It was a battle in which the commanders on both sides, with 
the exception of MacMahon, showed lack of military skill and 
the soldiers on both sides the staunchest courage. The Austrians 
seemed devoid of plan or system, and their several divisions were 



132 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

beaten in detail by the French. On the other hand, GeneraL 
Camou, in conunand of the second division of MacMahon's corps, 
acted as Desaix had done at the battle of Marengo, marched at 
the sound of the distant cannon. But, unhke Desaix, he moved 
so dehberately that it took him six hours to make less than five 
miles. He was a taqtician of the old school, imbued with the idea 
that every march should be made in perfect order. 

At half-past four MacMahon, with his uniforai in disorder 
and followed by a few officers of his staff, dashed back to hurry 
up this deliberate resei-ve. On the way thither he rode into a body 
of Austrian sharpshooters. Fortune favored him. Not dreaming 
of the presence of the French general, they saluted him as one 
of their own commanders. On his way back he made a second 
narrow escape from capture by the IHilans. 

The dinuns now beat the charge, and a determined attack was 
made by the French, the enemy's main column being taken between 
two fires. Desperately resisting, it was forced back step by step 
upon Magenta. Into the town the columns rolled, and the fight 
became fierce around the chm'ch. High in the tower of this edifice 
stood the Austrian general and his staff, watching the fortunes of 
the fray; and from this point he caught sight of the four regiments 
of Camou, advancing as regularly as if on parade. They were 
not given the chance to fire a shot or receive a scratch, eager as 
they were to take part in the fight. At sight of them the Austrian 
general ordered a retreat and the battle was at an end. The 
French owed their victory largely to General Mellinet and his 
Grenadiers of the Guard, who held their own like bulldogs at 
Buffalora while Camou was advancing with the dehberation of 
the old military rules. 

MacMahon and Mellinet and the French had won the day. 
Victor Emmanuel and the Sardinians did not reach the ground 
until after the battle was at an end. For his services on that day 
of glory for France MacMahon was made Marshal of France and 
Duke of Magenta. 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 133 

POSSESSION OF LOMBARDY 

The prize of the victory of Magenta was the possession of 
Lombardy. Gyulai, unable to collect his scattered divisions, gave 
orders for a general retreat. Milan was evacuated with precipitate 
haste, and the garrisons were withdrawn from all the towns, leav- 
ing them to be occupied by the French and Itahans. On the 8th 
of June Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel rode into Milan side by 
side, amid the loud acclamations of the people, who looked upon 
this victory as an assurance of Itahan freedom and unity. Mean- 
while the Austrians retreated without interruption, not halting 
until they arrived at the Mincio, where they were protected by 
the famous Quadrilateral, consisting of the four powerful fortresses 
of Peschiera, Mantua, Verona, and Leguano, the mainstay of the 
Austrian power in Italy. 

The French and Itahans slowly pursued the retreating Aus- 
trians, and on the 23d of June bivouacked on both banks of the 
Chiese River, about fifteen miles west of the Mincio. The Emperor 
Francis Joseph had recalled the incapable Gyulai, and, in hopes 
of inspiring his soldiers with new spirit, himself took command. 
The two emperors, neither of them soldiers, were thus pitted against 
each other, and Francis Joseph, eager to retrieve the disaster at 
Magenta, resolved to quit his strong position of defense in the 
Quadrilateral and assume the offensive. 

FRENCH VICTORY AT SOLFERINO 

At two o'clock in the morning of the 24th the allied French 
and Italian army resumed its march, Napoleon's orders for the 
day being based upon the reports of his reconnoitering parties and 
spies. These led him to believe that, although a strong detach- 
ment of the enemy might be encountered west of the Mincio, the 
maia body of the Austrians was awaiting him on the eastern side 
of the river. But the French intelUgence department was badly 
served. The Austrians had stolen a march upon Napoleon. 
Undetected by the French scouts, they had recrossed the Miueio, 



134 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

and by nightfall of the 23d their leading columns were occupying 
the ground on which the French were ordered to bivouac on the 
evening of the 24th. The intention of the Austrian emperor, now 
commanding his army in person, had been to push forward rapidly 
and fall upon the allies before they had completed the passage of 
the river Chiese. But this scheme, like that of Napoleon, was 
based on defective information. The allies broke up from their 
bivouacs many hours before the Austrians expected them to do 
so, and when the two armies came in contact early in the morn- 
ing of the 24th of June the Austrians were quite as much taken 
by surprise as the French. 

The Austrian army, superior in numbers to its opponents, 
was posted in a half-circle between the Mincio and Chiese, with 
the intention of pressing forward from these points upon a center. 
But the line was extended too far, and the center was compara- 
tively weak and without reserves. Napoleon, who that morning 
received complete intelligence of the position of the Austrian 
army, accordingly directed his chief strength against the enemy's 
center, which rested upon a height near the village of Solferino. 

Here, on the 24th of June, after a murderous conflict, in which 
the French commanders hurled continually renewed masses against 
the decisive position, while on the other side the Austrian reinforce- 
ments failed through lack of unity of plan and decision of action, 
the heights were at length won by the French troops in spite of 
heroic resistance on the part of the Austrian soldiers; the Austrian 
line of battle being cut through, and the army thus divided into 
tvv^o separate masses. A second attack which Napoleon promptly 
directed against Cavriano had a similar result; for the commands 
given by the Austrian generals were confused and had no general 
and definite aim. 

The fate of the battle was already in a great measure decided, 
when a tremendous storm broke forth that put an end to the 
combat at most points, and gave the Austrians an opportunity 
to retire in order. Only Benedek, who had twice beaten back the 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 135 

Sardinians at various points, continued the struggle for some 
hours longer. On the French side Marshal Niel had pre-eminently 
distinguished himself by acuteness and bravery. It was a day of 
bloodshed, on which two great powers had measured their strength 
against each other for twelve hours. The Austrians had to lament 
the loss of 13,000 dead and wounded, and left 9,000 prisoners in 
the enemy's hands; on the side of the French and Sardinians the 
number of killed and wounded was even greater, for repeated at- 
tacks had been made upon well-defended heights, but the nmnber 
of prisoners was not nearly so great. 

TREATY OF PEACE 

The victories in Italy filled the French people with the warm- 
est admiration for their emperor, they thinking, in their enthu- 
siasm, that a true successor of Napoleon the Great had come to 
bring glory to their arms. Italy also was full of enthusiastic hope, 
fancying that the freedom and unity of the Italians was at last 
assured. Both nations were, therefore, bitterly disappointed in 
learning that the war was at an end, and that a hasty peace had 
been arranged between the emperors which left the hoped-for 
work but haK achieved. 

Napoleon estimated his position better than his people. 
Despite his victories, his situation w"as one of danger and difficulty. 
The army had suffered severely in its brief campaign, and the 
Austrians were still in possession of the Quadrilateral, a square 
of powerful fortresses which he might seek in vain to reduce. And 
a threat of serious trouble had arisen in Germany. The victorious 
career of a new Napoleon in Italy was alarming. It was not 
easy to forget the past. The German powers, though they had 
declined to come to the aid of Austria, were armed and ready, 
and at any moment might begin a hostile movement upon the 
Rhine. 

Napoleon, wise enough to secure what he had won, without 
hazarding its loss, arranged a meeting with the Austrian emperor. 



136 THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 

whom he found quite as ready for peace. The terms of the truce 
arranged betwe(3n them were that Austria should abandon Lom- 
bardy to the line of the Mincio, almost its eastern boundary, and 
that Italy should form a confederacy under the presidency of the 
pope. In the treaty subsequently made only the first of these con- 
ditions was maintained, Lombardy passing to the king of Sardinia. 
He received also the small states of Central Italy, whose tyrants 
had fied, and ceded to Napoleon, as a reward for his assistance, the 
realm of Savoy and the city and territory of Nice. 

INVASION OF MEXICO 

Napoleon III had now reached the summit of his career. In 
succeeding years the French were to learn that whatever his ability 
Napoleon III was not a counterpart of the great Napoleon. He 
gradually lost the prestige he had gained at Magenta and Solferino. 
His first serious mistake was when he yielded to the voice of ambi- 
tion, and, taking advantage of the occupation of the Americans 
in their civil war, sent an army to invade Mexico. 

The ostensible purpose of this invasion was to collect a debt 
which the Mexicans had refused to pay, and Great Britain and Spain 
were induced to take part in the expedition. But their forces were 
withdrawn when they found that Napoleon had other purposes in 
view, and his army was left to fight its battles alone. After some 
sanguinary engagements, the Mexican army was broken into a 
series of guerrilla bands, incapable of facing his well-drilled troops, 
and Napoleon proceeded to reorganize Mexico into an empire, 
placing the Archduke Maximilian of Austria on the throne. 

All went well while the people of the United States were fighting 
for their national union, but when their war was over the ambitious 
French emperor was soon taught that he had committed a serious 
error. He was given plainly to understand that the French troops 
could only be kept in Mexico at the cost of a war with the United 
States, and he found it convenient to withdraw them early m 1867. 
They had no sooner gone than the Mexicans were in arms against 




THE KAISER AND GENERAL VON MOLTKE ON THE FIRING LINE 

A very unusual photograph of the German Emperor and his commanding general. 
Note the cloth coverings on the polished metal helmets which keep them from glitter- 
ing in the sun and betraying the wearers' whereabouts. 



THE AMBITION OF LOUIS NAPOLEON 137 

Maximilian, whose rash acceptance of the advice of the clerical 
party and determination to remain quickly led to his capture and 
execution as a usurper. Thus ended in utter failure the most 
daring effort to ignore the "Monroe Doctrine." 

END OF napoleon's CAREER 

The maction of Napoleon during the wars which Prussia fought 
with Denmark and Austria gave further blows to his prestige in 
France, and the opposition to his policy of personal government 
grew so strong that he felt himself obliged to submit his policy to a 
vote of the people. He was sustained by a large majority, and then 
loosened somewhat the reins of personal government, in spite of the 
fact that the yielding of increased Hberty to the people would 
diminish his own control. Finally, finding himself failing in health, 
confidence and reputation, he yielded to advisers who convinced hini 
that the only hope for his dynasty lay in a successful war. As a 
result he undertofiK: the war of 1870 against Prussia. The story of 
this war will be given in a subsequent chapter. All that need be 
said here is that it proved the utter incompetence of Napoleon III 
in military matters, he being completely deceived in the condition 
of the French army and unwarrantably ignorant of that of the 
Germans. The conditions were such that victory for France was 
impossible, France losing its second empire and Napoleon his 
throne. He died two years later, an exile in England, that place of 
shelter for the royal refugees of France. 




CHAPTER IX 

Garibaldi and Italian Unity 

Power of Austria Broken 

The Carbonari — Mazzini and Garibaldi — Cavour, the Statesman — The Invasion of 
Sicily — Occupation of Naples — Victor Emmanuel Takes Command — ^Watchword of 
the Patriots — Garibaldi Marches l Against Rome — Battle of Ironclads — Final Act of 

Italian Unity. 

^ROM the time of the fall of the Roman Empire until late 
in the nineteenth century, a period of some fourteen hun- 
dred years, Italy remained disunited, divided up among 
a series of states, small and large, hostile and peaceful, while its 
territory was made the battle-field of the surrounding Powers, the 
helpless prey of Germany, France and Spain. Even the strong 
hand of Napoleon failed to bring it unity, and after his fall its 
condition was worse than before, for Austria held most of the north 
and exerted a controlling power over the remainder of the penm- 
sula, so that the fair form of Uberty fled in dismay from its shores. 
But the work of Napoleon had inspired the patriots of Italy 
with a new sentiment, that of union. Before the Napoleonic era 
the thought of a united Italy scarcely existed, and patriotism 
meant adherence to Sardinia, Naples, or some other of the many 
kingdoms and duchies. After that era union became the watch- 
word of the revolutionists, who felt that the only hope of giving 
Italy a position of dignity and honor among the nations, lay in 
making it one country under one ruler. The history of the nine- 
teenth century in Italy is the record of the attempt to reach this 
end, and its successful accomphshment. And on that record the 
names of two men most prominently appear, Mazzini, the inde- 
fatigable conspirator, and Garibaldi, the valorous fighter; to whose 
names should be added that of the eminent statesman, Count 

(138) 



GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 139 

Cavour, and that of the man who shared /their statecraft and labors, 
Victor Emmanuel, the first king of united Italy. 

THE CARBONAEI 

The basis of the revolutionary movements in Italy was the 
secret poUtical association known as the Carbonari, formed early 
in the nineteenth century and including members of all classes in 
its ranks. In 1814 this powerful society projected a revolution in 
Naples, and in 1820 it was strong enough to invade Naples with 
an army and force from the king an oath to observe the new con- 
stitution which it had prepared. The revolution was put down 
in the following year by the Austrians, acting as the agents of the 
"Holy Alliance"^the compact of Austria, Prussia and Russia. 

An ordinance was passed condenming any one who should 
attend a meeting of the Carbonari to capital punishment. But 
the society continued to exist, despite this severe enactment, and 
was at the basis of many of the outbreaks that took place in Italy 
from 1820 onward. Mazzini, Garibaldi, and all the leading patriots 
were members of this powerful organization, which was daring 
enough to condemn Napoleon III to death, and almost to succeed 
in his assassination, for his failure to live up to his obligations as an 
alleged member of the society. 

MAZZINI AND GARIBALDI 

Giuseppe Mazzini, a native of Genoa, became a member of 
the Carbonari in 1830. His activity in revolutionary movements 
caused him soon after to be proscribed, and in 1831 he sought 
Marseilles, where he organized a new political society called "Young 
Italy," whose watchword was "God and the People," and whose 
basic principle was the union of the several states and kingdoms 
into one nation, as the only true foundation of Itahan liberty. 
This purpose he avowed in his writings and pursued through exile 
and adversity with inflexible constancy, and it is largely due to 
the work of this earnest patriot that Italy today is a single king- 



140 GARIBALDI AND IIaLIAN UNITY 

dom instead of a medley of separate states. Only in one particular 
did he fail. His persistent purpose was to establish a republic, 
not a monarchy. 

While Mazzini was thus working with his pen, his compatriot, 
Giuseppe Garibaldi, was working as earnestly with his sword. This 
daring soldier, a native of Nice and reared to a life on the sea, 
was banished as a revolutionist in 1834, and the succeeding four- 
teen years of his life were largely spent in South iVmerica, in whose 
wars he played a leading part. 

The revolution of 1848 opened Italy to these two patriots, 
and they hastened to return; Garibaldi to ofier his services to 
Charles Albert of Sardinia, by whom, however, he was treated with 
coldness and distrust. Mazzini, after founding the Roman repubhc 
in 1849, called upon Garibaldi to come to its defense, and the latter 
displayed the greatest heroism in the contest against the NeapoUtan 
and French invaders. He escaped from Rome on its captm*e by 
the French, and, after many desperate conflicts and adventiu'es 
with the Austrians, was again driven into exile, and in 1850 became 
a resident of New York. For some time he worked in a manufac- 
tory of candles on Staten Island, and afterwards made several 
voyages on the Pacific. 

The war in 1859 of Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel against 
the Austrians in Lombardy opened a new and promising channel 
for the devotion of Garibaldi to his native land. Being appointed 
major-general and conmiissioned to raise a volunteer corps, he 
organized the hardy body of momitaineers called the "Hunters 
of the Alps," and with them performed prodigies of valor on the 
plains of Lombardy, winning victories over the Austrians at Varese, 
Como and other places. In his ranks was his fellow-patriot Mazzini. 

The success of the French and Sardinians in Lombardy during 
this war stirred Italy to its center. The grand duke of Tuscany 
fled to Austria. The duchess of Parma sought refuge in Switzer- 
land. The duke of Modena found shelter in the Austrian camp. 
Everywhere the brood of tyrants took to flight. Bologna threw 



GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 141 

off its allegiance to the pope, and proclaimed the king of Sardinia 
dictator. Several other towns in the States of the Church did the 
same. In the terms of the truce between Louis Napoleon and 
Francis Joseph the rulers of these realms were to resume their 
power if the people would permit. But the people would not 
permit, and these minor states were all annexed to Sardinia, which 
country was greatly expanded as a result of the war. 

CAVOUR THE STATESMAN 

It will not suffice to give all the credit for these revolutionary 
movements to Mazzini, the organizer, Garibaldi, the soldier, and 
the ambitious monarchs of France and Sardinia. More important 
than king and emperor was the eminent statesman. Count Cavour, 
prime minister of Sardinia from 1852. It is to this able man that 
the honor of the unification of Italy most fully belongs, though he 
did not live to see it. He sent a Sardinian army to the assistance 
of France and England in the Crimea in 1855, and by this act gave 
his state a standing among the Powers of Europe. He secured 
liberty of the press and favored toleration in religion and freedom 
of trade. He rebelled against the dominion of the papacy, and 
devoted his abilities to the liberation and unity of Italy, undis- 
mayed by the angry fuhninations from the Vatican. The war of 
1859 was his work, and he had the satisfaction of seeing Sardinia 
increased by the addition of Lombardy, Tuscany, Parma and 
Modena. A great step had been taken in the work to which he had 
devoted his life. 

THE INVASION OF SICILY 

The next step in the great work was taken by Garibaldi, who 
now struck at the powerful kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the 
south. It seemed a difficult task. Francis II, the son and successor 
of the infamous "King Bomba," had a well-organized army of 
150,000 men. But his father's tyranny had filled the land with 
secret societies, and fortunately at this time the Swiss mercenaries 



142 GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 

were recalled home, leaving to Francis only his native troops, many 
of them disloj^al at heart to his cause. This was the critical interval 
which Mazzini and Garibaldi chose for their work. 

At the begmning of April, 1860, the signal was given by separate 
insurrections in Messina and Palermo. These were easily sup- 
pressed by the troops in garrison; but though both cities were 
declared in a state of siege, demonstrations took place by which 
the revolutionary chiefs excited the pubUc mind. On the 6th of 
May, Garibaldi started with two steamers from Genoa with about 
a thousand Itahan volunteers, and on the 11th landed near Marsala, 
on the west coast of Sicily. He proceeded to the mountains, and 
near Salemi gathered round him the scattered bands of the free 
coips. By the 14th his army had increased to 4,000 men. He 
now issued a proclamation, in which he took upon himself the 
dictatorship of Sicily, in the name of Victor Emnianuel, "king of 
Italy." 

After waging various successful combats under the most 
difficult circumstances. Garibaldi advanced upon the capital, 
announcing his arrival by beacon-fires Idndled at night. On the 
27th he was in front of the Porta Termina of Palenmo, and at once 
gave the signal for the attack. The people rose in mass, and 
assisted the operations of the besiegers bj^ barricade-fighting in 
the streets. In a few hours half the towai was in Garibaldi's 
hands. But now General Lanza, whom the yomig king had dis- 
patched with strong reinforcements to Sicily, furiously bom- 
barded the insurgent city, so that Palermo was reduced almost 
to a heap of ruins. 

At this juncture, by the intervention of an English admiral, 
an armistice was concluded, which led to the departure of the 
Neapolitan troops and war vessels and the siu-render of the town 
to Garibaldi, who thus, with a band of 5,000 badly armed fol- 
lowers, had gained a signal advantage over a regular army of 
25,000 men. This event had tremendous consequences, for it 
showed the utter hollowness of the Neapolitan government, while 



GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 143 

Garibaldi's fame was everywhere spread abroad. The glowing 
fancy of the Italians beheld in him the national hero before whom 
every enemy would bite the dust. This idea seemed to extend 
even to the Neapolitan court itself, where all was doubt, confusion 
and dismay. The king hastily summoned a liberal ministry, and 
offered to restore the constitution of 1848, but the general verdict 
was, 'Hoo late," and his proclamation fell flat on a people who 
had no trust in Bourbon faith. 

The arrival of Garibaldi in Naples was enough to set in blaze 
all the combustible materials in that state. His appearance there 
was not long delayed. Six weeks after the surrender of Palermo 
he marched against Messina. On the 21st of July the fortress of 
Melazzo was evacuated, and a week afterwards all Messina except 
the citadel was given up. 

OCCUPATION OF NAPLES 

Europe was astounded at the remarkable success of Gari- 
baldi's handful of men. On the mainland his good fortune was 
still more astonishing. He had hardly landed — which he did 
almost in the face of the Neapohtan fleet — when Reggio was sur- 
rendered and its garrison withdrew. His progress through the 
south of the kingdom was like a triumphal procession. At the 
end of August he was at Cosenza; on the 5th of September at 
Eboh, near Salerno. No resistance appeared. His very name 
seemed to work like magic on the population. The capital had 
been declared in a state of siege, and on September 6th the king 
took to flight, retiring, with the 4,000 men still faithful to him, 
behind the Voltumo. The next day Garibaldi, with a few fol- 
lowers, entered Naples, whose populace received him with frantic 
shouts of welcome. 

The remarkable achievements of Garibaldi fiUed all Italy 
with overmastering excitement. He had declared that he would 
proclaim the kingdom of Italy from the heart of its capital city, 
and nothing less than this would content the people. The position 



144 GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 

of the pope had become serious. He refused to grant the reforms 
suggested by the French emperor, and threatened with excom- 
miuiication any one who should meddle with the domain of the 
Church. Money was collected from faithful Cathohcs thi'oughout 
the world, a sunmions was issued calhiig for recniits to the holy 
amiy of the pope, and the exiled French General Lamoriciere was 
given the chief command of the troops, composed of men who 
had flocked to Rome from many nations. It was hoped that the 
name of the celebrated French leader would have a favorable 
influence on the troops of the French garrison of Rome. 

The settlement of the perilous situation seemed to rest with 
Louis Napoleon. If he had let Garibaldi have his way the latter 
would, no doubt, have quickly ended the temporal sovereignty 
of the pope and made Rome the capital of Italy. But Napoleon 
seems to have arranged with Cavour to leave the king of Sardinia 
free to take possession of Naples, Umbria and the other provinces, 
provided that Rome and the "patrimony of St. Peter" were left 
intact. 

VICTOR EMMANUEL TAKES COMMAND 

At the beginning of September two Sardinian army corps, 
imder Fanti and Cialdini, marched to the borders of the states 
of the Church. Lamoriciere advanced against Cialdini with his 
motley troops, but was quicldy defeated, and on the following 
day was besieged in the fortress of Ancona. On the 29th he and 
the garrison surrendered as prisoners of war. On the 9th of 
October Victor Emmanuel arrived and took command. There 
was no longer a papal army to oppose hhn, and the march south- 
ward proceeded without a check. 

The object of the king in assuming the chief command was 
to complete the conquest of the kingdom of Naples, in con j miction 
with Garibaldi. For though Garibaldi had entered the capital ui 
trixunph, the progress on the line of the Voltm-no had been slow; 
and the expectation that the Neapohtan army would go over to 



GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 146 

the invaders in a mass had not been reaHzed. The great majority 
of the troops remained faithful to the flag, so that Garibaldi, 
although his iiTegular bfjids amounted to more than 25,000 men, 
could not hope to drive away Mng Francis, or to take the fortresses 
of Capua and Gaeta, without the help of Sardinia. Against the 
diplomatic statesman Cavour, who fostered no illusions, and saw 
the conditions of affairs m its tiTie light, the simple, honest Gari- 
baldi cherished a deep aversion. He could never forgive Cavour 
for havuig given up Nice, Garibaldi's native town, to the French. 
On the other hand, he felt attracted toward the king, who, in his 
opinion, seemed to be the man raised up by Providence for the 
liberation of Italy. 

Accordmgly, when Victor Emimanuel entered Sessa, at the 
head of his army. Garibaldi was easily induced to place his dicta- 
torial power in the hands of the king, to whom he left the com- 
pletion of the work of the union of Italy. After greeting Victor 
Emmanuel with the title of King of Italy, and giving the required 
resignation of his power, with the words, ''Sire, I obey," he 
entered Naples, riding beside the king; and then, after recom- 
mendhig his companions in arms to his majesty's special favor, he 
retired to his home on the island of Caprera, refusing to receive a 
reward, in any shape or form, for his services to the state and 
its head. 

The progress of the Sardinian army compelled Francis to 
give up the line of the Volturno, and he eventually took refuge, 
with his best troops, in the fortress of Gaeta. On the mamteng^nce 
of this fortress himg the fate of the kingdom of Naples. Its 
defense is the only bright point in the career of the feeble Francis, 
whose courage was aroused by the heroic resolution of his young 
wife, the Bavarian Princess Mary. For three months the defense 
continued. But no European Power came to the aid of the king, 
disease appeared with scarcity of food and of munitions of war, 
and the garrison was at length forced to capitulate. The fall of 
Gaeta was practically the completion of the great work of the 



146 GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 

unification of Italy. Only Rome and Venice remained to be added 
to the united kingdom. On February 18, 1861, Victor Emmanuel 
assembled at Turin the deputies of all the states that acknowledged 
his supremacy, and in their presence assumed the title of King of 
Italy, which he was the fu-st to bear. In four months afterwards 
Count Cavour, to whom this great work was largely due, died. 
He had lived long enough to see the purpose of his life practically 
accomplished. 

WATCHWORD OF THE PATRIOTS 

Great as had been the change which two years had made, the 
patriots of Italy were not satisfied. ^'Free from the Alps to the 
Adriatic!" was their cry; "Rome and Venice!" became the watch- 
word of the revolutionists. Mazzini, who had sought to foimd a 
republic, was far from content, and the agitation went on. 
Garibaldi was drawn into it, and made bitter complaint of the 
treatment his followers had received. In 1862, disheartened at 
the inaction of the king, he determined to undertake against Rome 
an expedition like that which he had led against Naples two 
years before. 

In June he sailed from Genoa and landed at Palermo, where 
he was quickly joined by an enthusiastic party of volunteers. 
They supposed that the government secretly favored their design, 
but the king had no idea of fighting against the French troops in 
Rome and arousing international complications, and he energetic- 
ally warned all Italians against taking pa,rt in revolutionary 
enterprises. 

GARIBALDI MARCHES AGAINST ROME 

But Garibaldi persisted in his design. When his way was 
barred by the garrison of Messina he turned aside to Catania, 
where he embarked with 2,000 volunteers, declarmg he would enter 
Rome as a victor, or perish beneath its walls. He landed at Melito 
on the 24th of August, and threw himself at once, with his fol- 



GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 147 

lowers, into the Calabrian mountains. But his enterprise was 
quickly and disastrously ended. General Cialdini despatched a 
division of the regular army, under Colonel Pallavicino, against the 
volunteer bands. At Aspromonte, on the 28th of August, the 
two forces came into coUison. A chance shot was followed by 
several volleys from the regulars. Garibaldi forbade his men to 
return the fire of their fellow-subjects of the Italian kingdom. He 
was wounded, and taken prisoner with his followers, a few of whom 
had been slain in the short combat. A government steamer car- 
ried the wounded chief to Varignano, where he was held in a sort 
of honorable imprisomnent, and was compelled to undergo a 
tedious and painful operation for the heaUng of his wound. He 
had at least the consolation that all Europe looked with sympathy 
and interest upon the unfortunate hero; and a general sense of 
rehef was felt when, restored to health, he was set free, and 
allowed to return to his rocky island of Caprera. 

Victor Emmanuel was seeking to accomplish his end by safer 
means. The French garrison of Rome was the obstacle in his 
way, and this was finally removed through a treaty with Louis 
Napoleon in September, 1864, the emperor agreeing to withdraw 
his troops during the succeeding two years, in which the pope was 
to raise an army large enough to defend his dominions. Florence 
was to replace Turin as the capital of Italy. This arrangement 
created such disturbances in Turin that the king was forced to 
leave that city hastily for his new capital. In December, 1866, 
the last of the French troops departed from Rome, in despite of the 
efforts of the pope to retain them. By their withdrawal Italy was 
freed from the presence of foreign soldiers for the first time prob- 
ably in a thousand years. 

In 1866 came an event which reacted favorably for Italy, 
though her part in it was the reverse of triumphant. This was the 
war between Prussia and Austria. Italy was in alliance with 
Prussia, and Victor Emmanuel hastened to lead an army across 
the Mincio to the invasion of Venetia, the last Austrian province 



148 GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 

in Italy. Garibaldi at the same time was to invade the Tyrol 
with his volunteers. The enterprise ended in disaster. The 
Austrian troops, under the Archduke Albert, encountered the 
Itahans at Custozza and gained a brilhant "\dctory, despite the 
much greater numbers of the Itahans. 

Fortunately for Italy, the Austrians had been unsuccessful in 
the north, and the emperor, with the hope of gaining the alUance 
of France and breaking the compact between Italy and Prussia, 
decided to cede Venetia to Louis Napoleon. His purpose failed. 
All Napoleon did in response was to act as a peacemaker, while 
the Itahan king refused to recede from his alliance. Though the 
Austrians were retreating from a country which no longer belonged 
to them, the invasion of Venetia by the Itahans continued, and 
several confhcts with the Austrian army took place. 

BATTLE OF IRONCLADS 

But the most memorable event of this brief war occiured on 
the sea — the greatest battle of ironclad ships in the period between 
the American Civil War and the Japan-China contest. Both coun- 
tries concerned had fleets on the Adriatic. Italy was the strongest 
in naval vessels, possessing ten ironclads and a considerable nmnber 
of wooden ships. Austria's ironclad fleet was seven in niunber, 
plated with thin iron and with no very heavy gims. In addition 
there was a number of wooden vessels and gunboats. But in com- 
mand of this fleet was an admiral in whose blood was the iron which 
was lacking on his ships, Tegetthoff, the Nelson of the Adriatic. 
Inferior as his ships were, his men were thoroughly drilled in the use 
of the guns and the evolutions of the ships, and when he sailed it 
was with the one thought of victory. 

Persano, the Italian admiral, as if despising his adversary, 
engaged in siege of the fortified island of Lissa, near the Dalmatian 
coast, leaving the Austrians to do what they pleased. What they 
pleased was to attack him with a fury such as has been rarely seen. 
Early on July 20, 1866, when the Italians were preparing for a com- 



GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 149 

bined assault of the island by land and sea, their movement was 
checked by the signal displayed on a scouting frigate: '^ Suspicious- 
looking ships are in sight." vSoon afterwards the Austrian fleet 
appeared, the ironclads leading, the wooden ships in the rear. 

The battle that followed has had no parallel before or since. 
The whole Austrian fleet was converted into rams. Tegetthoff 
gave one final order to his captains: "Close with the enemy and 
ram everything grey." Grey was the color of the Italian ships. 
The Austrian were painted black, so as to prevent any danger of 
error. 

Fire was opened at two miles distance, the balls being wasted 
in the waters between the fleets. ''Full steam ahead," signaled 
Tegetthoff. On came the fleets, firing steadily, the balls now begin- 
ning to tell. "Ironclads will ram and sink the enemy," signaled 
Tegetthoff. It was the last order he gave until the battle was won. 

Soon the two lines of ironclads closed amid thick clouds of 
smoke. Tegetthoff, in his flagship, the Ferdinand Max, twice ram- 
med a grey ironclad without effect. Then, out of the smoke, loomed 
up the tall masts of the Re d'ltalia, Persano's flagship in the begin- 
ning of the fray. x\gainst this vessel the Ferdinand Max iiished 
at full speed, and struck her fairly amidships. Her sides of iron 
were crushed in by the powerful blow, her tall masts toppled over, 
and down beneath the waves sank the great ship with her crew of 
600 men. The next minute another Italian ship came rushing upon 
the Austrian, and was only avoided by a quick turn of the helm. 

One other great disaster occurred to the Italians. The Palestra 
was set on fire, and the pumps were put actively to work to drown 
the magazine. The crew thought the v/ork had been successfully 
performed, and that they were getting the fire under control, when 
there suddenly came a terrible burst of flame attended by a roar 
that drowned all the din of the battle. It was the death knell of 
400 men, for the Palestra had blown up with all on board. 

The great ironclad turret ship and ram of the ItaUan fleet, the 
Affondatore, to which Admiral Persano had shifted his flag, far the 



150 GARIBALDI AND ITALIAN UNITY 

most powerful vessel in the Adriatic, kept outside of the battle- 
line, and was of little service in the fray. It was apparently afraid 
to encounter Tegetthoff's terrible rams. The battle ended with 
the Austrian fleet, wooden vessels and all, passing practically 
unharmed through the Italian lines into the harbor of Lissa, leaving 
death and destruction in their rear. Tegetthoff was the one Aus- 
trian who came out of that war with fame. Persano on his return 
home was put on trial for cowardice and incompetence. He was 
convicted of the latter and dismissed from the navy in disgrace. 

FINAL ACT OF ITALIAN UNITY 

But Italy, though defeated by land and sea, gained a valuable 
prize from the war, for Napoleon ceded Venetia to the Italian 
king, and soon afterwards Victor Emmanuel entered Venice in 
triumph. Thus was completed the second act in the unification 
of Italy. 

The national party, with Garibaldi at its head, still aimed at 
the possession of Rome, as the historic capital of the peninsula. 
In 1867 he made a second attempt to capture Rome, but the papal 
army, strengthened with a new French auxihary force, defeated his 
badly armed volunteers, and he was taken prisoner and held captive 
for a time, after which he was sent back to Caprera. This led to the 
French army of occupation being retm-ned to Civita Vecchia, 
where it was kept for several years. 

The final act came as a consequence of the Franco-German 
war of 1870, which rendered necessary the withdrawal of the 
French troops from Italy. The pope was requested to make a 
peaceful abdication. As he refused this, the States of the Church 
were occupied up to the walls of the capital, and a three hours' 
cannonade of the city sufficed to bring the long strife to an end. 
Rome became the capital of Italy, and the whole peninsula, for 
the first time since the fall of the ancient Roman empire, was con- 
centrated into a single nation, under one king. 



CHAPTER X 

The Expansion of Germany 

Beginnings op Modern World Power 

vVilliam I of Prussia — Bismarck's Early Career — The Schleswig-Holstein Question — 
Conquest of the Duchies — Bismarck's Wider Views — War Forced on Austria — The 
War in Italy — Austria's Signal Defeat at Sadowa — The Treaty of Prague — Germany 

after 1866. 



T 



t g MIE effort made in 1848 to unify Germany had failed for 
two reasons — ^first, because its promoters had not suffi- 
ciently clear and precise ideas, and, secondly, because they 
lacked material strength. Until 1859 reaction against novelties 
and their advocates dominated in Germany and even Prussia as 
well as in Austria. The Italian war, as was easily foreseen, and as 
wary counselors had told Napoleon III, revived the agitation in 
favor of unity beyond the Rhine. After September 16, 1859, it 
had its center in the national circle of Frankfort and its manifesto 
in the proclamation' which was issued on September 4, 1860, a 
proclamation whose terms, though in moderate form, clearly 
announced the design of excluding Austria from Germany. It was 
the object of those favoring unity, but with more decision than in 
1848, to place the group of German states under Prussia's imperial 
direction. The accession of a new king, Wilham I, who was 
already in advance called William the Conqueror, was likely to 
bring this project to a successful issue. The future German 
emperor's predecessor, Frederick Wilham IV, with the same ambi- 
tion as his brother, had too many prejudices and too much con- 
fusion in his mind to be capable of realizing it. Becoming insane 
towards the close of 1857, he had to leave the government to 
William, who, officially regent after October 7, 1858, became king 
on January 2, 1861. 



152 THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

WILLIAM I OP PRUSSIA 

The new sovereign was almost sixty-four years old. The son 
of Frederick William III and Queen Louisa, while yet a child he 
had witnessed the disasters of his country and his home, and then 
as a young man had had his first experience of arms towards the 
close of the Napoleonic wars. Obliged to flee during the revolt 
of 1848, he had afterwards, by liis pro-English attitude at the time 
of the Crimean war, won the sympathies of the Liberals, who 
joyfully acclaimed his accession. To lower him to the rank of a 
party leader was to judge him erroneously. Wilham I was above 
all a Prussian prince, serious, industrious, and penetrated with a 
sense of his duties to the state, the first of which, according to the 
men of his house, has ever been to aggrandize it; and he was also 
imbued with the idea that the state was essentially incarnate in 
him. 

''I am the first king," he said at his coronation, "to assume 
power smce the throne has been surrounded with modem institu- 
tions, hut I do not forget that the crown comes from God." 

He had none of the higher talents that mark great men, but he 
possessed the two essential qualities of the head of a state — ^firm- 
ness and judgment. He showed this by the way in which he chose 
and supported those who built up his greatness, and this merit is 
rarer than is generally supposed. A soldier above all, he saw that 
Prussia's ambitions could be realized only with a powerful army. 

Advised by Von Moltke, the army's chief of staff after 1858, 
and Von Roon, the great administrator, who filled the office of min- 
ister of war, he changed the organization of 1814, which had become 
insufficient. Instead of brigades formed in war time, half of men 
in active service and half of reserves, regiments were now recruited 
by a three (instead of a two) years' service and reinforced in case 
of need by the classes of reserves. The Landwehr, divided into two 
classes (twenty-five to thirty-two j^'ears and thirty-two to thirty- 
nine), was grouped separately. This system gave seven hundred 
thousand trained soldiers, Prussia having then seventeen milUon 



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THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 153 

inhabitants. This was more than either France or Austria had. 
The armament was also superior. Frederick Wilham I had aheady 
said that the first result to be obtained in this direction was 
celerity in firing. This was assured by the invention of the 
needle gun. 

bismakck's eaelt career 

Such a transformation entailed heavy expenses. The Prussian 
Chamber, made up for the most part of Liberals, did not appre- 
ciate its utiHty. Moreover, it was not in favor of increasing the 
number of officers, because they were recruited from the nobility. 
After having yielded with bad grace in 1860, the deputies refused 
the grants in 1861 and 1862. It was at this time that Bismarck 
was called to the ministry (September 24, 1862). Otto von Bis- 
marck-Schonhausen, born April 1, 1815, belonged by birth to 
that minor Prussian nobility, rough and realistic, but faithful and 
disciplined, which has ever been one of the Prussian state's sources 
of strength. After irregular studies at the University of Gottingen, 
he had entered the administration, but had not been able to stay 
in it, and had lived on his rather moderate estates until 1847. 
The diet of that year, to which he had been elected, brought him 
into prominence. There he distinguished himseK in the Junker 
(poor country squires') party by his marked contempt for the 
Liberalism then in vogue and his insolence to the Liberals. Fred- 
erick Wilham IV entrusted hun with representing Prussia at 
Frankfort, where he assumed the same attitude towards the 
Austrians (1851-59). 

He was afterward ambassador at St. Petersburg, and had just 
been sent to Paris in the same capacity when he became prime 
minister. 

His character was a marked one. In it was evident si. taste 
for sarcastic raillerj^ and a sort of frankness, apparently brutal, 
but really more refined than cruel. His qualities were those 
of all great politicians, embracing energy, decision and realism; 



154 THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

that is, talent for appreciating all things at their effective value 
and for not letting liimseK be duped either by appearances, by 
current theories, or by words. Very unfavorably received by the 
parliament, he paid little heed to the furious opposition of the 
deputies, causing to be promulgated by ordinance the budget 
which they refused him, suppressing hostile newspapers, treating 
his adversaries with studied insolence, and declaring to them that, 
if the Chamber had its rights, the king also had his, and that force 
must settle the matter in such a case. To get rid of these barren 
struggles, he took advantage of the first incident of foreign politics. 
The Schleswig-Holstein question furnished him with the desired 
opportunity. 

THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN QUESTION 

This was the first of the various important questions of inter- 
national pohcy in which Bismarck became concerned. The united 
provinces of Schleswig-Holstein, lying on the northern border of 
Denmark, had long been notable as a source of continual strife 
between Germany and Denmark. The majority of the inhabitants 
of Schleswig were Danes, but those of Holstein were very largely 
Germans, and the question of their true national aflSliation lay 
open from the time of their original union in 1386. It became 
insistent after the middle of the nineteenth century. 

The treaty of London in 1852 had maintained the union of 
Holstein with Denmark, but did not put a definite end to the 
demands of the Germans, who held that it was a constituent part 
of Germany. The quarrel was renewed in 1855 over a conmion 
constitution given by King Frederick VII to all his states. This 
was aboHshed in 1858, and afterwards the Danes sought to grant 
complete autonomy to the duchies of Schleswig and Lauenburg, 
this movement being with the purpose of making more complete 
the union of Schleswig with their country. This step, taken in 
1863, led to a protest from the German diet. 

Id all this theriR was food for an indefinite contest, for, on the 



THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 155 

one hand, Schleswig did not form a part of the Confederation, but, 
on the other, certain historical bonds attached it to Holstein, and 
its population was mixed. The death of Frederick VII (November 
15, 1863), who was succeeded by a distant relative. Christian IX, 
further complicated the quarrel. The duke of Augustenburg 
claimed the three duchies, though he had previously renounced 
them. The German diet, on its part, wanted the Danish constitu- 
tion aboHshed in Schleswig. 

The dream of the petty German states hostile to Prussia, and 
especially of the Saxon minister. Von Beust, was to strengthen 
their party by the creating of a new duchy. Bismarck admirably 
outplayed everybody. He knew that the great Powers were at 
odds with one another over Poland. He, on the contrary, could 
count on Russia's friendship and the personal aid of Queen 
Victoria, whom Prince Albert had completely won over to pro- 
German ideas. He used England to make Christian IX consent 
to the occupation of Holstein, which, he said, was in reality an 
acknowledgment of that king's rights. At this stage, had the 
Danes yielded to the necessities of the situation and withdrawn 
from Schleswig under protest, the European Powers would prob- 
ably have intervened and a congress would have restored Schles- 
wig to the Danish reahn. Bismarck prevented this by a cunning 
stratagem, making the Copenhagen government believe that Great 
Britain had taken a step hostile to that government. There was 
no truth in this, but it succeeded in inducing Denmark to remain 
defiant. As a consequence, on the 1st of February 1864, the 
combined forces of Prussia and Austria crossed the Eider and 
invaded the province. 

It was a movement to regain to Germany a section held to be 
non-Danish in population and retained by Denmark against the 
traditions and the will of its people. Austria, which did not wish 
to appear less German than Prussia, though the matter did not 
directly appeal to that country, joined in the movement, being 
drawn into it by Bismarck's shrewd policyo 



156 THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

It was not the original intention to go beyond the borders 
of the duchies and invade Denmark, but when Cliristian IX tried 
to resist the invasion this was done. The Danewerk and the 
Schlei were forced, and the Danish army was defeated at Flens- 
burg and driven back into Dueppel, which was taken by assault. 
A conference of the great Powers, opened at London (April 25th 
to June 25th), brought about no result. Napoleon III did not 
refuse to act, but he wanted as a condition that England would 
promise him something more than its moral support, which it 
refused to do. Finally Jutland was invaded and conquered, and 
Von Moltke was already preparing for a landing in Fuenen when 
Christian IX gave up all the duchies by the Vienna preliminaries 
(August 1st), confirmed by treaty on October 30th following. 

CONQUEST OF THE DUCHIES 

The fate of the conquest remained to be decided upon. Bis- 
marck settled it, after a pretence of investigation, by concluding 
that the rights of King Christian over the duchies were far superior 
to those of the Duke of Augustenburg, who had a hereditary claim, 
and that as Prussia and Austria had won them from the king by 
conquest, they had become the lawful owners. An agreement 
was made in which Holstein was assigned to Austria and Schleswig 
to Prussia, and for the time the question seemed settled. 

Bismarck's wider views 

This was far from being the case. Bismarck held views of 
far more expanded scope. He wanted to exclude Austria from 
the German confederation, and to do so desired war with that 
country as the only practical means of gaining his ends. In 1865 
he made the significant remark that a single battle in Bohemia 
would decide everything and that Prussia would win that battle. 
A remark like this was indicative of the purpose entertained and 
the events soon to follow. 

In such a war, however, it was important to secure the 



THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 157 

neutrality of France. The alert Prussian statesman had already 
assured himself of that of Russia. To gain France to his side he 
held an interview with Napoleon III at Biarritz in October, 1865. 
The cunning diplomat offered the emperor an alliance with a view 
to the extension of Prussia and Italy, by means of which France 
would take Belgium. Napoleon saw very clearly that the offer 
was chimerical, but he believed that Prussia if fighting alone 
would be rapidly crushed, and that the alliance of Italy would aid 
In'm in protracting the war, thus enabling him to intervene as a 
peacemaker and to impose a vast rearrangement of territory, the 
most essential provision of which would be the exchange of Venetia 
for Silesia. Whatever Napoleon's views, Bismarck saw that he 
was safe from any interference on the part of France, and returned 
with the fixed design of driving Austria to the wall. 

WAR FORCED ON AUSTRIA 

He found the desired pretext in the Holstein question and the 
far more serious one of ref oraiing the federal government. On 
January 24, 1866, he reproached the Austrian government with 
favoring in Holstein the pretensions of the Duke of Augustenburg. 
The grievance soon became envenomed by complaints and ulterior 
measures. In April Bismarck denounced the so-called offensive 
measures which Austria was taking in Bohemia and which, in short, 
were only precautionary. Yet at the same time he himself was 
signing with Italy a treaty, concluded for three months, by virtue 
of which Victor Emmanuel was to declare war agamst Austria 
as soon as Prussia itself had done so. 

Bismarck, now invited to lay the Austrian-Prussian dispute 
before the diet, answered by asking that an assembly elected by 
universal suffrage be called to discuss the question of federal 
reform. And when Austria offered to disarm in Bohemia if Prussia 
would do so on its part, Bismarck demanded, in addition, dis- 
armament in Venetia, a condition he knew to be unacceptable. 
On May 7, 1866, he declared he would not accept the diet's inter- 



158 THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

vention in the duchies question, and on the 8th ordered the mobih- 
zation of the Prussian army. 

Napoleon III at this juncture proposed the holding of a con- 
gress for settUng the duchies question and that of federal reform. 
Thiers had warned him in vain, in an admirable speech delivered 
on May 3d, that France had everything to lose by aiding in, 
bringing about the unity of Germany. The emperor obstinately 
persisted, proposing to tear up those treaties of 1815 which, two 
years before, he had childishly declared to be no longer in existence. 
His proposition of a congress, however, failed through the refusal 
of Austria and the petty states to take part in it. He next signed 
with Austria a secret treaty by which the latter promised to cede 
Venetia after its first victory and on condition of being indenmi- 
fied at Prussia's expense. By a strange inconsistency the French 
emperor proposed at the same time to make Prussia more homo- 
geneous in the north. 

Bismarck acted in a far clearer manner than the French emperor. 
On June 5th, General von Gablenz, the Austrian governor of Hol- 
stein, convened the states of that country, Austria declaring that 
the object of this measure was to enable the federal diet to settle 
the question. A German force under General Manteuffel at once 
invaded the duchy and, having far superior forces at his disposal, 
took possession of it. On the 10th, Prussia asked the different 
German States to accept a new constitution based on the exclu- 
sion of Austria, the election of a parliament by universal suffrage, 
the creation of a strong federal power and a common army. The 
diet answered by voting the federal execution against Prussia. 
Thereupon the Prussian envoy, Savigny, withdrew, declaring that 
his sovereign ceased to recognize the Confederation. 

Events proved how correctly Bismarck had judged in his 
confidence in Prussia's military strength. The Prussian forces 
amounted to 330,000 men, who were to be aided in the south by 
240,000 Itahans. Austria had 335,000 troops and its German 
allies 146,000. Generally the last named had little zeal. 



THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 159 

The Austrian government acted slowly, while its adversary 
vigorously assumed the offensive. On June 16th, after an imavail- 
ing notice, the Prussian troops invaded Saxony and occupied it 
without resistance, the Saxon army withdrawing to Bohemia. 
The same was the case in Hesse, whose grand duke was taken pris- 
oner, while his army joined the Bavarians. Still less fortunate 
was the king of Hanover, who did not even save his army, which, 
also retreating towards the south, was surrounded and obliged to 
capitulate at Langensalza (June 29th). 

In the south the Prussian General Vogel von Falkenstein, who 
had but 57,000 men against over a 100,000, took advantage of the 
fact that his adversaries had separated into two masses, the one at 
Frankfort and the other at Meiningen, to beat them separately, 
the Bavarians at Kissingen (July 10th) and the Prince of Hesse, 
commanding the other army, at Aschaffenburg (July 14th). On 
the 16th the Prussians entered Frankfort, which they overwhelmed 
with requisitions and contributions. General Manteuffel, Falken- 
stein's successor, then drove the federal armies from the line of the 
Tauber, where they had united, back to Wurzburg, On the 
28th an armistice was concluded, 

THE WAR IN ITALY 

The Itahans had been less successful. Archduke Albert, who 
commanded in Venetia, had only 70,000 men, but they were Croa- 
tian Slavs, that is, Austria's best troops. Confronting him, Victor 
Emmanuel commanded 124,000 men on the Chiese and Cialdini 
80,000 in the neighborhood of Ferrara. They proved unable to 
act together. Cialdini let himseh be kept in check by a mere 
handful of troops, while the Austrian archduke attacked the Italian 
royal army at Custozza. Serious errors in tactics and panic in an 
Itahan brigade, which fled before three platoons of lancers that had 
the audacity to charge it, gave victory to the Austrians. Cialdini 
had remained behind the Po. Garibaldi, who had undertaken, with 
36,000 men, to conquer the Trent region, defended by only 13,000 



160 THE EXPAN^SION OF GERMANY 

regulars and 4,000 militia under General von Kuhn, found himself 
not only repulsed in eveiy attack, but, had it not been for the 
evacuation of Venetia, his adversary would have pursued him on 
ItaUan territory. The important events which took place at sea 
have been described in the preceding chapter. 

AUSTRIA S SIGNAL DEFEAT OF SADOWA 

It was not on these events that the outcome of the war was to 
depend, but on the victory or defeat of the chief Austrian army. 
The forces of the two Powers on the Silesian and Saxon frontier 
were almost equal; but the Austrian commander-in-chief, Benedek, 
brave and brilHant as a division leader, proved imequal to his present 
task. He daUied in Moravia until June 16th, while the, Prussians 
entered Bohemia m two separate masses, one on each side of the 
Riesen Gebirge. Benedek wavered and blundered. He sent only 
60,000 men against 150,000 under Prince Frederick Charles, and 
they suffered four defeats in as many days (June 26-29th). At the 
same time he had made the same mistake in regard to the Prince 
Royal, who won in over haK a dozen skirmishes. During the follow- 
ing night, June 29-30th, the second Prussian army reached the Elbe. 
Benedek's incapacity was now completely demonstrated. He 
telegraphed to the emperor 'so make peace at any cost, and retreated 
on Olmiitz. Then he changed his mind and decided to fight, 
seeking to throw the blame for his own errors on his subordinates. 
The battle-field chosen by him was near the village of Sadowa, 
and here his army, though sadly demoralized, fought with much 
bravery. The Austrians, whom their general had notified of the 
imminent battle only in the middle of the night, ^ had fortified 
the slopes and villages as best they could. At eight in the morning 
Frederick Charles began the attack by crossing the Bistritz. 
Benedek's center resisted, but the right and left wings lost ground. 
At haK past eleven the Prussians were losing ground and seemed 
ready to retreat. At this critical moment the army of the Prince 
Royal appeared, eonung from the north. 
If 



THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 161 

The second and sixth Austrian corps, obliged to confront 
the new troops with a flank march under the fire of the Prussian 
artillery, could not hold out long, and about three o'clock the strong- 
est Austrian position was lost. It was necessary at any cost to 
regain it, but all efforts failed against their own intrenchments, 
defended by the captors with desperate energy. At half past four 
retreat became necessary. Half of the Austrian army escaped with- 
out much difficulty; but the rest, three army corps, driven towards 
the Elbe by the entire victorious army, would have been annihi- 
lated but for the devotedness of the cavalry and the artillerymen. 
These formed successive fire lines, and continuing to shoot until 
the muzzles of their guns were reached, saving the infantry from 
destruction through dint of dying at their posts. Despite this 
diversion it was a frightful rout, which cost the vanquished 40,000 
men and 187 pieces of artillery. The Prussians lost only 10,000 
dead and wounded. 

THE TREATY OF PRAGUE 

The Austrians tried to fall back on Vienna, but only three 
corps out of eight reached there, as the Prussian army by a rapid 
march had forced the others to seek refuge at Presburg. On 
July 18th the Prussian armies were concentrated on the Russbach. 
Archduke Albert, recalled from Italy, had taken command of 
the troops covering Vienna, but the internal condition of the 
empire, where Hungary was in agitation, was too disquieting for 
it to be possible, without aid, to continue the war. This aid Napo- 
leon III could and should have fmnished. The French army had 
suffered from the expedition to Mexico. Yet it would have been 
possible to put a himdred thousand men on foot immediately, and, 
later on, Bismarck acknowledged that this Would have sufficed to 
change the result. But Napoleon III was ill and swayed between 
opposing influences. Prince Napoleon, whom he heeded very 
much, was decidedly in favor of Prussia. Accordingly, no step 
was taken but an offer of mediation. Then he had the weakness, 



162 THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

in spite of his minister, Drouyn de Lhuys, to consent to the annexa- 
tions which Prussia wished to bring about in northern Germany. 
He asked, however, that Austria lose only Venetia, but it was 
precisely Bismarck's will that had, and not without difficulty, 
persuaded King Wilham that he must not, by territorial demands, 
compromise the alliance which he afterwards realized. 

On July 26th the peace preliminaries of Nikolsburg were signed. 
Austria paid a considerable indemnity, abandoned its former posi- 
sition in Germany, acknowledged the extension of Prussian authority 
to the line of the Main and the annexations which Prussia would 
deem it to its purpose to make. The three Danish duchies were 
likewise abandoned. It was stipulated only that the inhabitants 
of northern Schleswig should be consulted as to their wish to be 
restored or not to Denmark, which was never done. The definitive 
treaty was signed On August 25th at Prague. As for Italy, Francis 
Joseph had ceded Venetia to Napoleon III, who was to transmit 
it to Victor Emmanuel, but the ItaHans protested loudly against 
the idea of being satisfied with so little. They wanted in addi- 
tion at least the Trent country. ''Have you, then," Bismarck 
said^to them, ''lost another battle to claim a province more?" 
On August 10th the preliminaries of peace were signed on that 
side. The final treaty, that of Vienna, was concluded on October 
3, 1866. 

GERMANY AFTER 1866 

Prussia, now master of Germany, annexed Hanover, Hesse- 
Cassel, Nassau and the city of Frankfort, which increased its 
population by four and a half milhons. The rest of the northern 
states as far as the Main were to form xmder its direction the 
Confederation of Northern Germany (proclaimed July 1, 1867), 
with a constitution exactly the same as that of the German empire 
of today. As for the southern states, they remained independent, 
but signed mihtary agreements which connected them with Prussia. 
Napoleon III tried in vain to obtain a compensation for that 



THE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 163 

enormous increase of power. To the first overtures which he made 
to this end (he wanted the Palatinate) Bismarck answered with a 
Hat refusal and a threat of war. He added, however, that he 
would consent to an enlargement of France from Belgium, a pro- 
ject which he was afterwards careful to mention as coming from^ 
the Paris cabinet. 

Bismarck had succeeded in humbling Austria and reducing 
its importance among the great Powers of Europe, and had expanded 
Prussia alike on the north and south and made it decisively the 
ruling nation in Central Europe. As we have seen, it had con- 
cluded miUtary agreements with the states of southern Germany. 
It held them also in another manner, namely, by means of the 
Zollverein, signed anew on June 4, 1867. But it was as yet far 
from having brought about a peaceful realization of unity. The 
southern states, not merely the sovereigns only, but the peoples 
as weU, had always shown little taste for Prussian leadership, and 
after 1866 this feeling was very visible. It was for that reason 
that Bismarck had need of a war against France to strengthen 
his position. Union against the foreigner was the cement with, 
which he hoped to complete political unity. Such a war came 
near breaking out in 1867 in relation to Luxembourg. Napoleon 
III keenly desired to have at least that country as compensation for 
Prussia's aggrandizements, and the king of Holland was disposed 
to cede his rights for a consideration. But Bismarck, after having 
secretly approved of the bargain, officially declared his opposition 
to it. Napoleon, hampered at one and the same time by the Paris 
Exposition of that year and by the bad condition of his army, 
was too happy to escape from embarrassment, since it was evident 
that the Prussians were not veiling to evacuate the fortress of 
Luxembourg, by obtaining with the aid of the other Powers that 
the little duchy be declared neutral and the walls of its capital 
destroyed. 

In spite of this arrangement, it remained certain to everybody 
that a conflict would break out in a short time between France 



164 ITHE EXPANSION OF GERMANY 

and Prussia. We have seen what reasons Bismarck had for the 
methods pursued by him and those projected. Napoleon Ill's 
government, justly censured by opinion for the weakness which 
it had shown in 1866 and constantly losing its authority, was 
destined to fall into the first trap its adversary would set for it. 
What this trap was and the momentous events to which it led will 
be described in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER XI 
The Franco-Prussian War 

BiBTH OF THE GERMAN EmPIHE AND THE FrENCH REPUBLIC 

Caiises of Hostile Relations — Discontent in France — War with Prussia Declared — 
Self-deception of the French — First Meeting of the Armies — The Stronghold of Metz — 
Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte — Napoleon III at Sedan — The Emperor a Captive; 
France a Republic — Bismarck Refuses Intervention — Fall of the Fortresses — Paris is 
Besieged — Defiant Spirit of the French — The Struggle Continued — Operations Before 
Paris— Fighting in the South — The War at an End. 

IN 1866 the war between the two great powers of Germany, in 
which most of the smaller powers were concerned, led to more 
decided measures, in the absorption by Prussia of the weaker 
states, the formation of a North German League among the 
remaining states of the north, and the offensive and defensive 
alHance with Prussia of the south German states. By the treaty 
of peace with Austria, that power was excluded from the German 
League, and Prussia remained the dominant power in Germany. 
A constitution for the League was adopted in 1867, providing 
for a Diet, or legislative council of the League, elected by the 
direct votes of the people, and an army, which was to be under 
the command of the Prussian king and subject to the military 
laws of Prussia. Each state in the League bound itself to supply 
a specified sum for the support of the army. 

Here was a union with a backbone — an army and a budget — 
and Bismarck had done more in the five years of his ministry in 
forming a united Germany than his predecessors had done in fifty 
years. But the idea of union and alliance between kindred states 
was then widely in the air. Such a union had been practically 
completed in Italy, and Hungary in 1867 regained her ancient 
rights, which had been taken from her in 1849, being given a 
separate government, with Francis Joseph, the emperor of Austria, 

(165) 



166 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

as its king. It was natural that the common blood of the Germans 
should lead them to a political confederation, and equally natural 
that Prussia, which so overshadowed the smaller states in strength, 
should be the leading element in the alliance. 

Yet, though Prussia had concluded military agreements with 
the states of southern Germany and held them also by means of 
the ZoUverein, this was far from bringing about a peaceful realiza- 
tion of unity. The southern states, not merely the sovereigns only, 
but the peoples, have always had little taste for Prussian leader- 
ship, and after 1866 this feeling was very visible, for this reason 
Bismarck felt it important to instigate a war against France. 
Union against the foreigner was to complete poUtical unity. This 
subject has been dealt with in the preceding chapter, and we need 
here merely to repeat that warlike sentiments were in the air in 
1867, in regard to the desire of Napoleon III to add to his empire 
the little duchy of Luxembourg and Bismarck's opposition to this 
desire. France was not then in a favorable condition for war, and 
the matter was finally settled by declaring Luxembourg a 
neutral state and ordering the walls aroimd its capital to be 
destroyed. 

CAUSES OF HOSTILE RELATIONS 

In spite of this settlement, it remained certain to everybody 
that a conflict would break out in a short time between France 
and Prussia. We have seen what reasons Bismarck had for such 
a war. Napoleon Ill's government, justly censured by opinion 
for the weakness which it had shown in 1866, was eager to re- 
trieve the fault it had then committed. Yet the wealaiess of the 
administration continued and prevented it from adopting the indis- 
pensable military measures that it should have done. The 
enemies of power were declaiming against standing armies, which 
they declared useless. The government deputies were afraid to 
dissatisfy their constituents by aggravating the burdens of the 
service. Marshal Niel, minister of war, tried indeed to adopt 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 167 

measures with a view to the seemingly inevitable conflict. He 
caused to be elaborated a plan of campaign, a system of transpor- 
tation by railway, an arrangement for the chief places of the east 
to be armed with rifled cannon. But the Chamber giTidged him 
the appropriations for the increase of the army, asking him if 
'^he wished to make France a vast barracks." "Take care," 
he answered the opposition, "lest you make it a vast cemetery." 
Accordingly, when the mobile national guard had been created, 
made up of all the young men who had not been drawn by lot, 
organization was given to it only on paper, and it was never drilled. 
Lebceuf, who succeeded Niel in August, 1869, abandoned, more- 
over, most of his predecessor's plans. He even neglected to do 
anything towards carrying out on the eastern frontier any of the 
works of defense already recommended as urgent by the gen- 
erals of the Restoration. 

And thus time passed on until the eventful year 1870. By that 
year Prussia had completed its work among the North German 
states and was ready for the issue of hostilities, if this should be 
necessary. On the other hand. Napoleon, who had found his 
prestige in France from various causes decreasing, felt obhged in 
1870 to depart from his policy of personal rule and give that country 
a constitutional government. This proposal was submitted to a 
vote of the people and was sustained by an immense majority. 
He also took occasion to state that "peace was never more assured 
than at the present time." This assurance gave satisfaction to the 
world, yet it was a false one, for war was probably at that moment 
assured. , 

DISCONTENT IN FKANCE 

There were alarming signs in France. The opposition to Napo- 
leonism was steadily gaining power. A bad harvest was threatened 
— a serious source of discontent. The parhament was discussing the 
reversal of the sentence of banishment against the Orleans family. 
These indications of a change in public sentiment appeared to call 



168 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR, 

for some act that would aid in restoring the popularity of the 
emperor. And of all the acts that could be devised a national war 
seemed the most promising. If the Rhine frontier, which every 
Frenchman regarded as the natural boundary of the empire, could 
be regained by the arms of the nation, discontent and opposition 
would vanish, the name of Napoleon would win back its old prestige, 
and the reign of Bonapartism would be firmly established. 

Acts speak louder than words, and the acts of Napoleon were 
not in accord with his assurances of peace. Extensive miUtary 
preparations began, and the forces of the empire were strengthened 
by land and sea, while great trust was placed in a new weapon, of 
murderous powers, called the mitrailleuse, the predecessor of the 
machine gim, and capable of discharging twenty-five balls at 
once. 

CAUSES OF HOSTILE RELATIONS 

On the other hand, there were abundant indications of dis- 
content in Germany, where a variety of parties inveighed against the 
rapacious policy of Prussia, and where Bismarck had sown a deep 
crop of hate. It was beUeved in France that the minor states would 
not support Prussia in a war. In Austria the defeat of 1866 rankled, 
and hostihties against Prussia on the part of France seemed certain 
to win sympathy and support in that composite empire. Colonel 
Stoffel, the French military eaivoy at Berlin, declared that Prussia 
would be found abundantly prepared for a struggle; but his wammgs 
went unheeded in the French Cabinet, and the warlike preparations 
continued. 

Napoleon did not have to go far for an excuse for the war upon 
which he was resolved. One was prepared for him in that potent 
source of trouble, the succession to the throne of Spain. In that 
country there had for yesirs been no end of trouble, revolts, Carlist 
risings, wars and launors of wars. The government of Queen Isa- 
bella, with its endless intrigues, plots and alternation of despotism 
and anarchy, and the pronounced immorality of the queen, had 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 169 

become so distasteful to the people that finally, after several years 
of revolts and armed risings, she was driven from her throne by a 
revolution, and for a time Spain was without a monarch and was 
ruled on republican principles. 

But this arrangement did not prove satisfactory. The party 
in opposition looked around for a king, and negotiations began 
with a distant relative of the Prussian royal family, Leopold of 
Hohenzollem. Prince Leopold accepted the offer, and informed the 
king of Prussia of his decision. 

The news of thi^ event caused great excitement in Paris, and 
the Prussian government was advised of the painful feeling to which 
the incident had given rise. The answer from Berlin that the 
Prussian government had no concern in the matter, and that Prince 
Leopold was free to act on his own account, did not allay the 
excitement. The demand for war grew violent and clamorous, the 
voices of the feeble opposition in the Chambers were drowned, 
and the joumaHsts and war partisans were confident of a short 
and glorious campaign and a triumphant march to Berlin. 

The hostile feeling was reduced when King WilHam of Prussia, 
though he declined to prohibit Prince Leopold from accepting the 
crown, expressed his conciu'rence with the decision of the prince 
when he withdrew his acceptance of the dangerous offer. This 
decision was regarded as sufficient, even in Paris; but it did not 
seem to be so in the palace, where an excuse for a declaration of 
war was ardently desired. The emperor's purpose was en- 
hanced by the influence of the empress, and it was finally declared 
that the Prussian king had aggrieved France in permitting the prince 
to become a candidate for the throne without consulting the French 
Cabinet. 

WAR WITH PRUSSIA DECLARED 

Satisfaction for this shadowy source of offense was demanded, 
but King William firmly refused to say any more on the subject 
and declined to stand in the way of Prince Leopold if he should 



170 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

again accept the offer of the Spanish throne. This refusal was 
declared to be an offense to the honor and a threat to the safety 
of France. The war party was so strongly in the ascendant that all 
opposition was now looked upon as lack of patriotism, and on the 
15th of July the Prime Minister Ollivier announced that the reserves 
were to be called out and the necessary measures taken to secure 
the honor and security of France. When the declaration of war was 
hurled against Prussia the whole nation seemed in harmony with 
it and public opinion appeared for once to have become a unit 
throughout France. 

Rarely in the history of the world has so trivial a cause given 
rise to such stupendous military and political events as took place 
in France in a brief interval following this blind leap into hostilities. 
Instead of a triumphant march to Berlin and the dictation of peace 
from its palace, France was to find itself in two months' time with- 
out an emperor or an army, and in a few months more completely 
subdued and occupied by foreign troops, while Paris had been made 
the scene of a terrible siege and a frightful communistic riot, and 
a republic had succeeded the empire. It was such a series of events 
as have seldom been compressed within the short interval of haH 
a year. 

In truth Napoleon and his advisers were bUnded by their hopes 
to the true state of affairs. The anny on which they depended, 
and which they assumed to be ia a high state of efficiency and dis- 
ciphne, was lacking in almost every requisite of an efficient force. 
The first Napoleon had been his own minister of war. The tliird Na- 
poleon, when told by his war minister that ''not a single button was 
wanted on a single gaiter," took the words for the fact, and hurled 
an army without supplies and organization against the most thor- 
oughly organized army the world had ever known. That the French 
were as brave as the Germans goes without saying; they fought 
desperately, but from the first confusion reigned in their movements, 
while military science of the highest kind dominated those of the 
Germans. 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 171 

Napoleon was equally mistaken as to the state of affairs in 
Germany. The disunion upon which he counted vanished at the 
first threat of war. All Germany felt itself threatened and joined 
hands in defense. The declaration of war was received there with 
as deep an enthusiasm as in France and excited a fervent eagerness 
for the struggle. The new popular song, Die Wacht am Rhein 
(''The Watch on the Rhine")? spread rapidly from end to end of the 
country, and indicated the resolution of the German people to 
defend to the death the frontier stream of their country, 

SELF-DECEPTION OF THE FRENCH 

The French looked for a parade march to Berlin, even fixing 
the day of their entrance into that city — ^August 15th, the emperor's 
birthday. On the contrary, they failed to set their foot on German 
territory, and soon found themselves engaged in a death struggle 
with the invaders of their own land. In truth, while the Prussian 
diplomacy was conducted by Bismarck, the ablest statesman 
Prussia had ever known, the movements of the army were directed 
by far the best tactician Europe then possessed, the famous Von 
Moltke, to whose strategy the rapid success of the war against 
Austria had been due. In the war with France Von Moltke, though 
too old to lead the armies in person, was virtually commander- 
in-chief, and arranged those masterly combinations which overthrew 
all the power of France in so remarkably brief a period. Under his 
directions, from the moment war was declared everything worked 
with clock-Uke precision. It was said that Von Moltke had only 
to touch a bell and all went forward. As it was, the Crown Prince 
Frederick fell upon the French while still unprepared, won the 
first battle, and steadily held the advantage to the end, the French 
being beaten by the strategy that kept the Germans in superior 
strength at all decisive points. 

But to return to the events of war. On July 23, 1870, the 
Emperor Napoleon, after making his wife Eugenie regent of France, 
set out with his son at the head of the army, full of high hopes of 



172 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

victory and triumph. By the end of July King William had also 
set out from Berlin to join the armies that were then in rapid motion 
towards the frontier. 

The emperor made his way to Metz, where was stationed his 
main army, about 200,000 strong, under Marshals Bazaine and 
Canrobert and General Bourbaki. Further east, under Marshal 
MacMahon, the hero of Magenta, was the southern army, of about 
100,000 men. A third army occupied the camp at Chalons, while 
a well-manned fleet set sail for the Baltic, to blockade the harbors 
and assail the coast of Germany. The German army was likewise 
in three divisions, the first, of 61,000 men, under General Steinmetz; 
the second, of 206,000 men, under Prince Frederick Charles; and 
the third, of 180,000 men, under the crown prince and General 
BlumenthaK The king, commander-in-chief of the whole, was 
in the center, and with him the general staff under the guidance of 
the alert Von Moltke. Bismarck and the minister of war Von 
Roon were also present, and so rapid was the movement of these 
great forces that in two weeks after the order to march was given 
300,000 armed Germans stood in rank along the Rhine. 

FIRST MEETING OF THE ARMIES 

The two armies first came together on August 2d, near Saar- 
briick, on the frontier line of the hostile kingdoms. It was the one 
success of the French, for the Prussians, after a fight in which both 
sides lost equally, retired in good order. This was proclaimed by 
the French papers as a brilliant victory, and filled the people with 
undue hopes of glory. It was the last favorable report, for they were 
quickly overwhelmed with tidings of defeat and disaster. 

Weissenburg, on the borders of Rhenish Bavaria, had been 
invested by a division of MacMahon's army. On August 4th the 
right wing of the army of the Crown Prince Frederick attacked 
and repulsed this investing force after a hot engagement, in which 
its leader. General Douay, was killed, and the loss on both sides 
was heavy. Two days later occurred a battle which decided the 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 173 

fate of the whole war, that of Worth-Reideshofen, where the army 
of the crown prince met that of MacMahon, and after a desperate 
struggle, which continued for fifteen hours, completely defeated 
him, with very heavy losses on both sides. MacMahon retreated 
in haste towards the army at Chalons, while the crown prince took 
possession of Alsace, and prepared for the reduction of the fortresses 
on the Rhine, from Strasburg to Belfort. On the same day a^ that 
of the battle of Worth, General Steinmetz stonned the heights of 
Spieheren, and, though at great loss of life, drove Frossard from those 
heights and back upon Metz. 

The occupation of Alsace was followed by that of Lorraine, by 
the Prussian army under King William, who took possession of 
Nancy and the country surroimding on August 11th. These two 
provinces had at one time belonged to Germany, and it was the aim 
of the Prussians to retain them as the chief anticipated prize of 
the war. Meanwhile the world looked on in amazement at the 
extraordinary rapidity of the German success, which, in two weeks 
after Napoleon left Paris, had brought his power to the verge of 
overthrow. 

THE STRONGHOLD OF METZ 

Towards the Moselle River and the strongly fortified town of 
Metz, 180 miles northeast of Paris, around which was concentrated 
the main French force, all the divisions of the German army now 
advanced, and on the 14th of August they gained a victory at 
Colombey-Nouilly which drove their opponents back, from the 
open field towards the fortified city. 

It was Moltke's opinion that the French proposed to make their 
stand before this impregnable fortress, and fight there desperately^ 
for victory. But, finding less resistance than he expected, he 
concluded, on the 15th, that Bazaine, in fear of being cooped up 
within the fortress, meant to march towards Verdun, there to join 
his forces with those of MacMahon and give battle to the Germans 
in the plain. 



174 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

The astute tactician at once determined to make every effort 
to prevent such a concentration of his opponents, and by the evening 
of the 15th a cavalry division had crossed the Moselle and reached 
the village of Mars-la-Tour, where it bivouacked for the night. 
It had seen troops in motion towards Metz, but did not know 
whether these formed the rear-guard of the French army or its van- 
guard in its march towards Verdun. 

In fact, Bazaine had not yet got away with his army. All the 
roads from Metz were blocked with heavy baggage, and it was 
impossible to move so large an army with expedition. The time 
thus lost by Bazaine was dihgently improved by Frederick Charles, 
and on the morning of the 16th the Brandenburg army corps, one 
of the best and bravest in the German army, had followed the 
cavalry and come within sight of the Verdun road. It was quickly 
perceived that a French force was before them, and some pre- 
liminary skirmishing developed the enemy in such strength as to 
convince the leader of the corps that he had in his front the whole 
or the greater part of Bazaine's army, and that its escape from Metz 
had not been achieved. 

They were desperate odds with which the brave Brandenburgers 
had to contend, but they had been sent to hold the French until 
reinforcements could arrive, and they were determined to resist 
to the death. For nearly six hours they resisted, with unsurpassed 
courage, the fierce onslaughts of the French, though at a cost of 
life that perilously depleted the gallant corps. Then, about four 
o'clock in the afternoon, Prince Frederick Charles came up with 
reinforcements to their support and the desperate contest became 
more even. 

MARS-LA-TOTJR AND GRAVELOTTE 

Gradually fortune decided in favor of the Germans, and by 
the time night had come they were practically victorious, the field 
of Mars-la-Tour, after the day's struggle, remaining in their hands. 
But they were utterly exhausted, their horses were worn out, and 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 175 

most of their anununition was spent, and though their impetuous 
commander forced them to a new attack, it led to a useless loss of 
life, for their powers of fighting were gone. They had achieved 
their purpose, that of preventing the escape of Bazaine, though at 
a fearful loss, amounting to about 16,000 men on each side. ''The 
battle of Vionville [Mars-la-Tour] is without a parallel in military 
history," said Emperor William, "seeing that a single army corps, 
about 20,000 men strong, hung on to and repulsed an enemy more 
than five times as numerous and well equipped. Such was the glo- 
rious deed done by the Brandenburgers, and the.HohenzoUems will 
never forget the debt they owe to their devotion." 

Two days afterwards (August 16th), at Gravelotte, a village 
somewhat nearer to Metz, the armies, somewhat recovered from the 
terrible struggle of the 14th, met again, the whole German army 
being now brought up, so that over 200,000 men faced the 140,000 
of the French. It was the great battle of the war. For four hours 
the two armies stood fighting face to face, without any special 
result, neither being able to drive back the other. The French 
held their ground and died. The Prussians dashed upon them and 
died. Only late in the evening was the right wing of the French 
army broken, and the victory, which at five o'clock remained uncer- 
tain, was decided in favor of the Germans. More than 40,000 men 
lay dead and wounded upon the field, the terrible harvest of those 
nine hours of conflict. That night Bazaine withdrew his army 
behind the fortifications at Metz. His effort to join MacMahon 
had ended in failure. 

It was the fixed purpose of the Prussians to detain him in 
that stronghold, and thus render practically useless to France 
its largest army. A siege was to be prosecuted, and an army of 
150,000 men was extended around the town. The fortifications 
were far too strong to be taken by assault, and all depended on 
a close blockade. On August 31st Bazaine made an effort to 
break through the German Hues, but was repulsed. It became now 
a question of how long the provisions of the French would hold out. 



176 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

NAPOLEOJN 111 AT SEDAN 

The French emperor, who had been with Bazaine, had left 
his army before the battle of Mars-la-Tour, and was now with 
MacMahon at Chalons. Here lay an army of 125,000 infantry 
and 12,000 cavalry. On it the Germans were advancing, in doubt 
as to what movement it would make, whether back towards Paris 
or towards Metz for the reUef of Bazaine. They sought to place 
themselves in a position to check either. The latter movement 
was determined on by the French, but was carried out in a dubious 
and uncertain manner, the time lost giving abundant opportunity 
to the Germans to learn what was afoot and to prepare to prevent 
it. As soon as they were aware of MacMahon's intention of pro- 
ceeding to Metz they made speedy preparations to prevent his 
relieving Bazaine. By the last days of August the army of the 
crown prince had reached the right bank of the Aisne, and the 
fourth division gained possession of the hue of the Meuse. On 
August 30th the French under General de Failly were attacked 
by the Germans at Beaumont and put to flight with heavy loss. 
It was evident that the hope of reaching Metz was at an end, 
and MacMahon, abandoning the attempt, concentrated his army 
around the frontier fortress of Sedan. 

This old town stands on the right bank of the Meuse, in an 
angle of territory between Luxembourg and Belgium, and is sur- 
rounded by meadows, gardens, ravines, ditches and cultivated 
fields; the castle rismg on a cliff-like eminence to the southwest 
of the place. MacMahon had stopped here to give his weaiy men 
a rest, not to fight, but Von Moltke decided, on observing the 
situation, that Sedan should be the grave-yard of the French army. 
''The trap is now closed, and the mouse in it/' he said, with a 
chuckle of satisfaction. 

Such proved to be the case. On September 1st the Bavarians 
won the callage of Bazeille, after hom'S of bloody and desperate 
stmggie. Daring this severe fight Marshal MacMahon was so 
seriously wounded that he was obliged to surrender the chief com- 

18 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 177 

mand, first to Ducrot, and then to General Wimpffen, a man of 
recognized bravery and cold calculation. 

Fortune soon showed itseK in favor of the Germans. To 
the northwest of the town, the North German troops invested the 
exits from St. Meuges and Fleigneux, and directed a fearful fire 
of artillery against the French forces, which, before noon, were 
so hemmed in the valley that only two insufficient outlets to the 
south and north remained open. But General Wimpffen hesitated 
to seize either of these routes, the open way to Illy was soon closed 
by the Prussian guard corps, and a murderous fire was now directed 
from all sides upon the French, so that, after a last energetic 
struggle, they gave up all attempts to force a passage, and in 
the afternoon beat a retreat towards Sedan. In this small town 
the whole army of MacMahon was collected by evening, and there 
prevailed in the streets and houses an unprecedented disorder and 
confusion, which was still further increased when the German 
troops from the surrounding heights began to shoot down upon 
the fortress, and the town took fire in several places. 

SURRENDER OF NAPOLEON's ARMY 

That an end might be put to the prevailing misery. Napoleon 
now commanded General Wimpffen to capitulate. The flag of 
truce already waved on the gates of Sedan when Colonel Bronsart 
appeared, and in the name of the king of Prussia demanded the 
surrender of the army and fortress. He soon returned to head- 
quarters, accompanied by the French General Reille, who pre- 
sented to the king a written message from Napoleon: ^"^As I may 
not die in the midst of my army, I lay my sword in the hands of 
your majesty." King WiUiam accepted it with an expression of 
sympathy for the hard fate of the emperor and of the French 
army which had fought so bravely under his own eyes. The con- 
elusion of the treaty of capitulation was placed in the hands of 
Wimpffen, who, accompanied by General Castehiau, set out for 
Donchery to negotiate with Moltke and Bismarck. No attempts, 



178 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

however, availed to move Moltke from his stipulation for the sur- 
render of the whole army at discretion; he granted a short respite, 
but if this expired without surrender, the bombardment of the 
town was to begin anew. 

At six o'clock in the morning the capitulation was signed 
and was ratified by the king at his headquarters at Vendresse (2d 
September). Thus the world beheld the incredible spectacle of 
an army of 83,000 men surrendering themselves and their weapons 
to the victor, and being carried off as prisoners of war to Germany. 
Only the officers who gave their written word of honor to take 
no further part in the present war with Germany were permitted 
to retain their arms and personal property. Probably the assur- 
ance of Napoleon, that he had sought death on the battle-field but 
had not found it, was literally true; at any rate, the fate of the 
unhappy man, bowed down as he was both by physical and mental 
suffering, was so solemn and tragic that there was no room for 
hypo^isy, and that he had exposed himseK to personal danger 
was admitted on all sides. Accompanied by Count Bismarck, he 
stopped at a small and mean-looking laborer's inn on the road to 
Donchery, where, sitting down on a stone seat before the door, 
with Count Bismarck, he declared that he had not desired the war, 
but had been driven to it through the force of public opinion; 
and afterwards the two proceeded to the little castle of Bellevue, 
near Frenois, to join King William and the crown prince. A 
telegram to Queen Augusta thus describes the interview: ''What 
an impressive moment was the meeting with Napoleon! He was 
cast down, but dignified in his bearing. I have granted him 
Wilhehnshohe, near Cassel, as his residence. Our meeting took 
place in a little castle before the western glacis of Sedan." 

THE EMPEEOR A CAPTIVE; FRANCE A REPUBLIC 

The locking up of Bazaine in Metz and the capture of Mac- 
Mahon's army at Sedan were events fatal to France. The struggle 
continued for months, but it was a fight against hope. The subse- 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 179 

quent events of the war consisted of a double siege, that of Metz 
and that of Paris, with various minor sieges, and a desperate but 
hopeless effort of France in the field. As for the empire of Napo- 
leon III, it was at an end. The tidings of the terrible catastrophe 
at Sedan filled the people with a fury that soon became revolution- 
ary. While Jules Favre, the republican deputy, was offering a 
motion in the Assembly that the emperor had forfeited the crown, 
and that a provisional government should be established, the 
people were thronging the streets of Paris with cries of ''Deposi- 
tion! Republic!" On the 4th of September the Assembly had 
its final meeting. Two of its prominent members, Jules Favre 
and Gambetta, sustained the motion for deposition of the emperor, 
and it was carried after a stormy session. They then made their 
way to the senate-chamber, where, before a thronging audience, 
they proclaimed a republic and named a government for the national 
defense. At its head was General Trochu, mihtary commandant 
at Paris. Favre was made minister of foreign affairs; Gambetta, 
minister of the interior; and other prominent members of the 
Assembly filled the remaining cabinet posts. The legislature was 
dissolved, the Palais de Bourbon was closed, and the Empress 
Eugenie quitted the Tuileries and made her escape with a few 
attendants to Belgium, whence she sought a refuge in England. 
Prince Louis Napoleon made his way to Italy, and the swarm of 
courtiers scattered in all directions; some faithful followers of 
the deposed monarch seeking the castle of Wilhelmshohe, where 
the unhappy Louis Napoleon occupied as a prison the same beauti- 
ful palace and park in which his imcle Jerome Bonaparte had 
once passed six years in a life of pleasure. The second French 
Empire was at an end; the third French RepubHc had begun — 
one that had to pass through many changes and escape many dan- 
gers before it would be firmly established. 

"Not a foot's breadth of our country nor a stone of our for- 
tresses shall be surrendered," was Jules Favre's defiant proclama- 
tion to the invaders, and the remainder of the soldiers in the 



180 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

field were collected in Paris, and strengthened with all available 
reinforcements. Every person capable of bearing arms was enrolled 
in the national army, which soon numbered 400,000 men. There 
was need of haste, for the victors at Sedan were already marching 
upon the capital, inspired with high hopes from their previous 
astonishing success. They knew that Paris was strongly fortified, 
being encircled by powerful lines of defense, but they trusted that 
hunger would soon bring its garrison to terms. The same result 
was looked for at Metz, and at Strasbourg, which was also besieged. 

Thus began at three main points and several minor ones a 
mihtary siege the difficulties, dangers, and hardships of which 
surpassed even those 'of the winter campaign in the Crimea. 
Exposed at the fore-posts to the enemy's balls, chained to arduous 
labor in the trenches and redoubts, and suffering from the effects 
of bad weather, and iasufficient food and clothing, the German 
soldiers were compelled to undergo great privations and sufferings 
before the fortifications; while many fell in the frequent skirmishes 
and sallies, many succumbed to typhus and epidemic disease. 

No less painful and distressing was the condition of the be- 
sieged. While the garrison soldiers on guard were constantly 
compelled to face death in nocturnal sallies, or led a pitiable 
existence in damp huts, having inevitable surrender constantly 
before their eyes, and disarmament and imprisonment as the 
reward of all their struggles and exertions, the citizens in the towns, 
the women and children, were in constant danger of being shivered 
to atoms by the fearful shells, or of being buried under falling walls 
and roofs; and the poorer part of the population saw with dismay 
the gradual diminution of the necessaries of life, and were often 
compelled to pacify their hunger with the flesh of horses, and dis= 
gusting and unwholesome food. 

BISMARCK REFUSES INTERVENTION 

The republican government possessed only a usurped power, 
and none but a freely elected national assembly could decide as 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 181 

to the fate of the French nation. Such an assembly was there- 
fore summoned for the 16th of October. Three members of the 
government — Cremieux, Fourichon, and Glais-Bizoin — ^were des- 
patched before the entire blockade of the city had been effected, 
to Tours, to maintain communication with the provinces. An 
attempt was also made at the same time to induce the great Powers 
which had not taken part in the war to organize an intervention, 
as hitherto only America, Switzerland and Spain had sent official 
recognition. For this important and delicate mission the old 
statesman and historian Thiers was selected, and, in spite of his 
three-and-seventy years, immediately set out on the journey to 
London, St. Petersburg, Vienna and Florence. Count Bismarck, 
however, in the name of Prussia, refused any intervention in 
internal affairs. In two despatches to the ambassadors of foreign 
courts, the chancellor declared that the war, begun by the Emperor 
Napoleon, had been approved by the representatives of the nation, 
and that thus all France was answerable for the result. Germany 
was obliged, therefore, to demand guarantees which should secure 
her in future against attack, or, at any rate, render attack more 
difficult. Thus a cession of territory on the part of France was 
laid down as the basis of a treaty of peace. The neutral powers 
were also led to the belief that if they fostered iu the French any 
hope of iutervention, peace would only be delayed. The mission 
of Thiers, therefore, yielded no useful result, while the direct 
negotiation which Jules Favre conducted with Bismarck proved 
equally unavailing. 

FALL OF THE FORTRESSES 

Soon the beleaguered fortresses began to fall. On the 23d of 
September the ancient town of Toul, in Lorraine, was forced to 
capitulate, after a fearful bombardment; and on the 27th Stras- 
bourg, in danger of the terrible results of a storming, after the havoc 
of a dreadful artillery fire, hoisted the white flag, and surrendered 
on the following day. The supposed impregnable fortress of Metz 



182 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

held out little longer. Hunger did what cannon were incapable 
of doing. The successive salUes made by Bazaine proved unavail- 
ing, though, on October 7th, his soldiers fought with desperate 
energy, and for hours the air was full of the roar of cannon and 
mitrailleuse and the rattle of musketry. But the Germans with- 
stood the attack unmoved, and the French were forced to with- 
draw into the town. 

Bazaine then sought to negotiate with the German leaders 
at Versailles, offering to take no part in the war for three months 
if permitted to withdraw. But Bismarck and Moltke would listen 
to no terms other than unconditional surrender, and these terms 
were finally accepted, the besieged army having reached the brink 
of starvation. It was with horror and despair that France learned, 
on the 30th of October, that the citadel of Metz, with its fortifi- 
cations and arms of defense, had been yielded to the Germans, 
and its army of more than 150,000 men had surrendered as pris- 
oners of war. 

This hasty surrender at Metz, a still greater disaster to France 
than that of Sedan, was not emulated at Paris, which for four 
months held out against all the efforts of the Germans. On the 
investment of the great city, King William removed his head- 
quarters to the historic palace of Versailles, setting up his homely 
camp-bed in the same apartments from which Louis XIV had 
once issued his despotic edicts and commands. Here Count Bis- 
marck conducted his diplomatic labors and Moltke issued his 
directions for the siege, which, protracted from week to week and 
month to month, gradually transformed the beautiful neighbor- 
hood, with its prosperous villages, superb coimtry houses, and 
enchanting parks and gardens, into a scene of sadness and 
desolation. 

PARIS IS BESIEGED 

In spite of the vigorous efforts made by the commander-in- 
chief Trochu, both by continuous firing from the forts and by 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 183 

repeated sallies, to prevent Paris from being surrounded, and to 
force a way through the trenches, his enterprises were rendered 
fruitless by the watchfulness and strength of the Germans. The 
blockade was completely accompUshed; Paris was surrounded 
and cut off from the outer world; even the underground telegraphs, 
through which communication was for a time secretly maintained 
with the provinces, were by degrees discovered and destroyed. 
But to the great astonishment of Europe, which looked on with 
keenly pitched excitement at the mighty struggle, the siege con- 
tinued for months without any special progress being observable 
from without or any lessening of resistance from within. On 
accoimt of the extension of the forts, the Germans were compelled 
to remain at such a distance that a bombardment of the town at 
first appeared impossible; a storming of the outer works would, 
moreover, be attended with such sacrifices that the humane tem- 
per of the king revolted from such a proceeding. The guns of 
greater force and carrying power which were needed from Ger- 
many, could only be procured after long delay on accoimt of the 
broken lines of railway. Probably also there was some hesitation 
on the German side to expose the beautiful city, regarded by so 
many as the '^metropoHs of civilization," to the risk of a bom- 
bardment, in which works of art, science, and a historical past 
would meet destruction. Nevertheless, the declamations of the 
French at the vandalism of the northern barbarians met with 
assent and sympathy from most of the foreign Powers. 

Determination and courage falsified the calculations at Ver- 
sailles of a quick cessation of the resistance. The republic offered 
a far more energetic and determined opposition to the Prussian 
arms than the empire had done. The government of the national 
defense still declaimed with stern reiteration: "Not a foot's 
breadth of our country; not a stone of our fortresses!" and posi- 
tively rejected all proposals of treaty based on territorial conces- 
sions. Faith in the invincibiUty of the republic was rooted as an 
indisputable dogma in the hearts of the French people. The 



184 THE FRANCO-=PRUSSIAN WAR, 

victories and the commanding position of France from 1792 to 
1799 were regarded as so entirely the necessary result of the 
Revolution, that a conviction prevailed that the formation of a 
republic, with a national army for its defense, would have an 
especial effect on the rest of Europe. Therefore, instead of sum- 
moning a constituent Assembly, which, in the opinion of Prussia 
and the other foreign Powers, would alone be capable of offering 
security for a lasting peace, it was decided to continue the revo- 
lutionary movements, and to follow the same course which, in the 
years 1792 and 1793, had saved France from the coaUtion of the 
Em-opean Powers. It was held that a revolutionary dictatorship 
such as had once been exercised by the Convention and the mem- 
bers of the Committee of PubHc Safety, must again be revived, 
and a youthful and hot-blooded leader was alone needed to stir 
up popular feeling and set it in motion. 

To fiU such a part no one was better adapted than the advo- 
cate Gambetta, who emulated the career of the leaders of the 
Revolution, and whose soul glowed with a passionate ardor of 
patriotism. In order to create for himself a free sphere of action, 
and to initiate some vigorous measure in place of the weU-rounded 
phrases and eloquent proclamations of his colleagues Trochu and 
Jules Favre, he quitted the capital in an air-balloon and entered 
into communication with the Government delegation at Tours, 
which through him soon obtained a fresh impetus. His next most 
important task was the Uberation of the capital from the besieg- 
ing German army, and the expulsion of the enemy from the 
"sacred" soil of France. For this purpose he summoned, with 
the authority of a minister of war, all persons capable of bearing 
arms up to forty years of age to take active service, and despatched 
them into the field; he imposed" war-taxes, and terrified the tardy 
and refractory with threats of punishment. Every force was put 
in motion; all France was transformed iuto a great camp. 

A popular war was now to take the place of a soldiers' war, 
and what the soldiers had failed to effect must be accomplished 



THE FRANCO=PRUSSIAN WAR 185 

by the people; France must be saved, and the world freed from 
despotism. To promote this object, the whole of France, with 
the exception of Paris, was divided into fom* general governments, 
the headquarters of the different governors being Lille, Le Mans, 
Bourges, and Besangon. Two armies, from the Loire and from 
the Somme, were to march simultaneously towards Paris, and, 
aided by the saUies of Trochu and his troops, were to drive the 
enemy from the country. Energetic attacks were now attempted 
from time to time, in the hope that when the armies of reUef arrived 
from the provinces, it might be possible to effect a coalition; but 
all these efforts were constantly repulsed after a hot struggle by 
the besieging German troops. At the same time, during the 
month of October, the territory between the Oise and the Lower 
Seine was scoured by reconnoitering troops, under Prince Albrecht, 
the southeast district was protected by a Wiirtemberg detachment 
through the successful battle near Nogent on the Seine, while a 
division of the third army advanced towards the south accom- 
panied by two cavalry divisions. A more unfortunate circum- 
stance, however, for the Parisians was the cutting off of all com- 
munication with the outer world, for the Germans had destroyed 
the telegraphs. But even this obstacle was overcome by the 
inventive genius of the French. By means of pigeon letter-carriers 
and air-baUoons, they were always able to maintain a partial 
though one-sided and imperfect communication with the prov- 
inces, and the aerostatic art was developed and brought to per- 
fection on this occasion in a manner which had never before been 
considered possible. 

DEFIANT SPIRIT OF THE FRENCH 

The whole of France, and especially the capital, was already 
in a state of intense excitement when the news of the capitulation 
of Metz came to add fresh fuel to the flame. Outside the walls 
Gambetta was using heroic efforts to increase his forces, bringing 
Bedouin horsemen from Africa and inducing the stern old revo- 



186 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

lutionist Garibaldi to come to his aid; and Thiers was opening 
fresh negotiations for a truce. Inside the walls the Red Republic 
raised the banners of insurrection and attempted to drive the 
government of national defense from power. 

This effort of the dregs of revolution to inaugurate a reign of 
terror failed, and the provisional government felt so elated with 
its victory that it determined to continue at the head of affairs 
and to oppose the calling of a chamber of national representatives. 
The members proclaimed obUvion for what had passed, broke off 
the negotiations for a truce begun by Thiers, and demanded a 
vote of confidence. The indomitable spirit shown by the French 
people did not, on the other hand, inspire the Germans with a 
very lenient or conciliatory temper. Bismarck declared in a 
despatch the reasons why the negotiations had failed: "The 
incredible demand that we should surrender the fruits of all our 
efforts diiring the last two months, and should go back to the 
conditions which existed at the beginning of the blockade of Paris, 
only affords fresh proof that in Paris pretexts are sought for refusing 
the nation the right of election." Thiers mournfully declared the 
failure of his imdertaking, but in Paris the popular voting resulted 
in a ten-fold majority in favor of the government and the policy 
of postponement. 

After the breaking off of the negotiations, the world antici- 
pated some energetic action towards the besieged city. The efforts 
of the enemy were, however, principally directed to drawing the 
iron girdle still tighter, enclosing the giant city more and more 
closely, and cutting off every means of communication, so that at 
last a surrender might be brought about by the stern necessity of 
starvation. That this object would not be accomplished as 
speedily as at Metz, that the city of pleasure, enjoyment, and 
luxury would withstand a siege of four months, had never been 
contemplated for a moment. It is true that, as time went on, all 
fresh meat disappeared from the market, with the exception of 
horse-flesh; that white bread, on which Parisians place such value, 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 187 

was replaced by a baked compound of meal and bran; that the 
stores of dried and salted food began to decline, until at last rats, 
dogs, cats, and even animals from the zoological gardens were 
prepared for consumption at restaurants. 

Yet, to the amazement of the world, all these miseries, hard- 
ships, and sufferings were courageously borne, nocturnal watch 
was kept, salUes were undertaken, and cold, hunger, and wretched- 
ness of all kinds were endured with an indomitable steadfastness 
and heroism. The courage of the besieged Parisians was also 
animated by the hope that the military forces in the provinces 
would hasten to the aid of the hard-pressed capital, and that 
therefore an energetic resistance would afford the rest of France 
sufficient time for rallying all its forces, and at the same time 
exhibit an elevating example. In the carrying out of this plan, 
neither Trochu nor Gambetta was wanting in the requisite energy 
and circumspection. The former organized saUies from time to 
time, in order to reconnoiter and discover whether the army of 
rehef was on its way from the provinces; the latter exerted all his 
powers to bring the Loire army up to the Seine. But both erred 
in undervaluing the German war forces; they did not beheve that 
the hostile army would be able to keep Paris in a state of blockade, 
and at the same time engage the armies on the south and north, 
east and west. They had no conception of the hidden, inexhaus- 
tible strength of the Prussian army organization — of a nation in 
arms which could send forth constant reinforcements of battalions 
and recruits, and fresh bodies of disciplined troops to fill the gaps 
left in the ranks by the wounded and fallen. There could be no 
doubt as to the termination of this terrible war, or the final victory 
of/ German energy and discipline. 

THE STRUGGLE CONTINUED 

Throughout the last months of the eventful year 1870, the 
northern part of France, from the Jura to the Channel, from the 
Belgian frontier to the Loire, presented the aspect of a wide battle- 



188 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

field. Of the troops that had been set free by the capitulation of 
Metz, a part remained behind in garrison, another division 
marched northwards in order to invest the provinces of Picardy 
and Normandy, to restore communication with the sea, and to 
bar the road to Paris, and a third division joined the second army, 
whose commander-in-chief, Prince Frederick Charles, set up his 
headquarters at Troyes. Different detachments were despatched 
against the northern fortresses, and by degrees Soissons, Verdun, 
Thionville, Ham, where Napoleon had once been a prisoner, Pfalz- 
burg and Montmedy, all fell into the hands of the Prussians, thus 
opening to them a free road for the supplies of provisions. The 
garrison troops were all carried off as prisoners to Germany; the 
towns — ^most of them in a miserable condition — ^fell into the 
enemy's hands; many houses were mere heaps of ruins and ashes, 
and the larger part of the inhabitants were suffering severely from 
poverty, hunger and disease. 

The greatest obstacles were encountered in the northern part 
of Alsace and the mountainous districts of the Vosges and the 
Jura, where irregular warfare, under Garibaldi and other leaders, 
developed to a dangerous extent, while the fortress of Langres 
afforded a safe retreat to the guerilla bands. Lyons and the 
neighboring town of St. Etienne became hotbeds of excitement, the 
red flag being raised and a despotism of terror and violence estab- 
lished. Although many divergent elements made up this army of 
the east, all were united in hatred of the Germans. 

Thus, during the cold days of November and December, when 
General Von Treskow began the siege of the unportant fortress of 
Belfort, there biu"st forth a war aroimd Gray and Dijon marked 
by the greatest hardships, perils and privations to the invaders. 
Here the Germans had to contend with an enemy much superior 
in number, and to defend themselves against continuous firing 
from houses, cellars, woods and thickets, while the impoverished 
soil yielded a miserable subsistence, and the broken railroads cut 
off freedom of communication and of reinforcement. 



THE FRANCO=PRUSSIAN WAR 189 

The whole of the Jura district, intersected by hilly roads as 
far as the plateau of Langres, where, in the days of Caesar, the 
Romans and Gauls were wont to measure their strength with each 
other, formed during November and December the scene of action 
of numerous encounters which, in conjunction with salUes from the 
garrison at Belfort, inflicted severe injury on Werder's troops. 
Dijon had repeatedly to be evacuated; and the nocturnal attack 
at Chattillon, 20th November, by Garibaldians, when one hundred 
and twenty Landwehr men and Hussars perished miserably, and 
seventy horses were lost, affording a striking proof of the dangers 
to which the German army was exposed in this hostile country; 
although the revolutionary excesses of the turbulent population of 
the south diverted to a certain extent the attention of the National 
Guard, who were compelled to turn their weapons against an 
mtemal enemy. 

By means of the revolutionary dictatorship of Gambetta the 
whole French nation was drawn into the struggle, the annihilation 
of the enemy being represented as a national duty, and the war 
assuming a steadily more violent character. The indefatigable 
patriot continued his exertions to increase the army and unite the 
whole south and west against the enemy, hoping to bring the army 
of the Loire to such dimensions that it would be able to expel the 
invaders from the soil of France. But these raw recruits were 
poorly fitted to cope with the highly disciplined Germans, and their 
early successes were soon followed by defeat and discom'agement, 
while the hopes entertamed by the Paris garrison of succor from 
the south vanished as news of the steady progress of the Germans 
was received. 

OPERATIONS BEFORE PARIS 

During these events the war operations before Paris continued 
uninterruptedly. Moltke had succeeded, in spite of the difficulties 
of transport, in procuring an immense quantity of ammunition, 
and the long-delayed bombardment of Paris was ready to begin. 



190 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

Having stationed with all secrecy twelve batteries with seventy- 
six guns around Mont Avron, on Christmas-day the firing was 
directed with such success against the fortified eminences, that 
even in the second night the French, after great losses, evacuated 
the important position, the ''key of Paris," which was immediately 
taken possession of by the Saxons. Terror and dismay spread 
throughout the distracted city when the eastern forts, Rosny, 
Nogent and Noisy, were stormed amid a tremendous volley of 
firing. Vainly did Trochu endeavor to rouse the failing courage 
of the National Guard; vainly did he assert that the government 
of the national defense would never consent to the humiliation of 
a capitulation; his own authority had already waned; the news- 
papers already accused him of incapacity and treachery, and 
began to cast every aspersion on the men who had presumptuously 
seized the government, and yet were not in a position to effect the 
defense of the capital and the country. After the new year the 
bombardment of the southern forts began, and the terror in the 
city daily increased, though the violence of the radical journals 
kept in check any hint of surrender or negotiation. Yet in spite 
of fog and snow-storms the bombardment was systematically con- 
tinued, and with every day the destructive effect of the terrible 
missiles grew more pronounced. 

Trochu was blamed for having undertaken only small sallies, 
which could have no result. The commander-in-chief ventured 
no opposition to the party of action. With the consent of the 
mayors of the twenty arrondissements of Paris a council of war 
was held. The threatening famine, the firing of the enemy, and 
the excitement prevailing among the adherents of the red republic 
rendered a decisive step necessary. Consequently, on the 19th of 
January, a great sally was decided on, and the entire armed forces 
of the capital were summoned to arms. Early in the morning, a 
body of 100,000 men marched in the direction of Meudon, Sevres 
and St. Cloud for the decisive conflict. The left wing was com- 
manded by General Vinoy, the right by Ducrot, while Trochu 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR l&l 

from the watch-tower directed the entire struggle. With great 
courage Vinoy dashed forward with his colunui of attack towards 
the fifth army corps of General Kirchbach, and succeeded in 
capturing the Montretout entrenchment, through the superior 
number of his troops, and in holding it for a time. But when 
Ducrot, delayed by the barricades in the streets, failed to come 
to his assistance at the appointed time, the attack was driven 
back after seven hours' fierce fighting by the besieging troops. 
Having lost 7,000 dead 9,nd wounded, the French in the evening 
beat a retreat, which almost resembled a flight. On the following 
day Trochu demanded a truce, that the fallen National Guards, 
whose bodies strewed the battle-field, might be interred. The 
victors, too, had to render the last rites to many a brave soldier. 
Thirty-nine officers and six himdred and sixteen soldiers were given 
in the fist of the slain. 

Entire confidence had been placed by the Parisians in the 
great sally. When the defeat, therefore, became known in its full 
significance, when the number of the fallen was found to be far 
greater even than had been stated in the first accounts, a dull 
despair took possession of the famished city, which next broke 
forth into violent abuse against Trochu, "the traitor." Capitula- 
tion now seemed icnirinent; but as the commander-in-chief had 
declared that he wo\ild never countenance such a disgrace, he 
resigned his post to Vinoy. Threatened by bombardment from 
without, terrified within by the pale specter of famine, paralyzed 
and distracted by the violent dissensions among the people, and 
without prospect of effective aid from the provinces, what 
remained to the proud capital but to desist from a conflict the 
continuation of which only increased the unspeakable misery, 
without the smallest hope of deliverance? Gradually, therefore, 
there grew up a resolution to enter into negotiations with the 
enemy; and it was the minister, Jules Favre, who had been fore- 
most with the cry of "no surrender" four months before, who was 
now compelled to take the first step to deliver his country from 



192 THE FR,ANCO-PRUSBIAN WAR 

complete ruin. It was probably the bitterest hour in the life of 
the brave man, who loved France and liberty with such a sincere 
affection, when he was conducted through the German outposts to 
his interview with Bismarck at Versailles. He brought the pro- 
posal for a convention, on the strength of which the garrison was 
to be permitted to retire with military honors to a part of France 
not hitherto invested, on promising to abstain for several months 
from taking part in the stniggle. But such conditions were posi- 
tively refused at the Prussian headquarters, and a surrender was 
demanded as at Sedan and Metz. Completely defeated, the 
minister returned to Paris. At a second meeting on the following 
day, it was agreed that from the 27th, at twelve o'clock at night, 
the firing on both sides should be discontinued. This was the 
preliminary to the conclusion of a three weeks' truce, to await the 
summons of a National Assembly, with which peace might be 
negotiated. 

FIGHTING IN THE SOUTH 

The war was at an end so far as Paris was concerned. But 
it continued in the south, where frequent defeat failed to depress 
Gambetta's indomitable energy, and where new troops constantly 
replaced those put to rout. Garibaldi, at Dijon, succeeded in 
doing what the French had not done during the war, in capturing 
a Prussian banner. But the progress of the Germans soon 
rendered his position untenable, and, finding his exertions unavail- 
ing, he resigned his command and retired to his island of Caprera. 
Two disasters completed the overthrow of France. Bourbaki's 
army, 85,000 strong, became shut in, with scanty food and ammu- 
nition, among the snow-covered valleys of the Jura, and to save 
the disgrace of capitulation it took refuge on the neutral soil of 
Switzerland; and the strong fortress of Belfort, which had been 
defended with the utmost courage against its besiegers, finallj'- 
yielded, with the stipulation that the brave garrison should march 
out with the honors of war. Nothing now stood in the way of an 
Id 



THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 193 

extension of the truce. On the suggestion of Jules Favre, the 
National Assembly elected a commission of fifteen members, which 
was to aid the chief of the executive, and his ministers, Picard and 
Favre, in the negotiations for peace. That cessions of territory 
and indemnity of war expenses would have to be conceded had 
long been acknowledged in principle; but protracted and excited 
discussions took place as to the extent of the former and the 
amount of the latter, while the demanded entry of the German 
troops into Paris met with vehement opposition. But Count 
Bismarck resolutely insisted on the cession of Alsace and German 
Lorraine, including Metz and Diedenhofen. Only with difficulty 
were the Germans persuaded to separate Belfort from the rest of 
Lorraine, and leave it still in the possession of the French. In 
respect to the expenses of the war, the sum of five milhards of 
francs ($1,000,000,000) was agreed upon, of which the first miUiard 
was to be paid in the year 1871, and the rest in a stated period. 
The stipulated entry into Paris also — so bitter to the French 
national pride — ^was only partially carried out; the western side 
only of the city was to be traversed in the march of the Prussian 
troops, and again evacuated in two days. On the basis of these 
conditions, the preliminaries of the Peace of Versailles were con- 
cluded on the 26th of February between the Imperial Chancellor 
and Jules Favre. Intense excitement prevailed when the terms of 
the treaty became known; they were dark days in the annals of 
French history. But in spite of the opposition of the extreme 
RepubKcan party, led by Quinet and Victor Hugo, the Assembly 
recognized by an overpowering majority the necessity for the 
Peace, and the preliminaries were accepted by 546 to 107 votes. 
Thus ended the mighty war between France and Germany — a war 
which has had few equals in the history of the world. 

THE WAR AT AN END 

Had King WiUiam received no indemnity in cash or territory 
from France, he must still have felt himself amply repaid for the 



194 THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 

cost of the brief but sanguinary war, for it brought him a power 
and prestige with which the astute diplomatist Bismarck had long 
been seeking to invest his name. Political changes move slowly 
in times of peace, rapidly in times of war. The whole of Ger- 
many, with the exception of Austria, had sent troops to the con- 
quest of France, and every state, noi-th and south alike, shared in 
the pride and glory of the result. South and North Germany 
had marched side by side to the battle-field, every difference of 
race or creed forgotten, and the honor of the German fatherland 
the sole watchword. The time seemed to have arrived to close 
the breach between north and south, and obUterate the line of the 
Main, which had divided the two sections. North Germany was 
united under the leadership of Prussia, and the honor in which 
all alike shared now brought South Germany into line for a 
similar union. 

The first appeal in this direction came from Baden. Later in 
the year plenipotentiaries sought Versailles from the kingdoms of 
Bavaria and Wiirtemberg and the grand duchies of Baden and 
Hesse, their purpose being to arrange for and define the conditions 
of union between the South and the North German states. For 
weeks this momentous question filled all Germany with excite- 
ment and public opinion was in a state of high tension. The 
scheme of union was by no means imiversally approved, there 
being a large party in opposition, but the majority in its favor in 
Chambers proved sufficient to enable Bismarck to carry out 
his plan. 



CHAPTER. XII 

Bismarck and the New German Empire 
Building the Bulwarks of the Twentibth-Centurt Nation 

Bismarck as a Statesman — Uniting the German States — William I Crowned at Versailles 

— A Significant Decade — The Problem of Church Power — Progress of Socialism — 

William II and the Resignation of Bismarck — Old Age Insurance — Political and 

Industrial Conditions in Germany. 

THROUGHOUT the various events narrated in the two 
preceding chapters the hand of Bismarck was everywhere 
visible. He had proved himseK a statesman of the highest 
powers, and these powers were devoted without stint to the aggran- 
dizement of Prussia. As for the surroimding nations and their 
rights and immunities, these did not count as against his poHcies. 
Conscience did not trouble him. The slaughter of thousands of 
men on the battle-field did not disturb his equanimity. He was 
unalterably fixed in his purposes, unscrupulous in the means em- 
ployed, shrewd, keen and far-sighted in his measures, Europe 
being to him but a great chess-board, on which his hand moved 
kings, knights, and pawns with mechanical inflexibihty. To him 
the end justified the means, however lacking in justice or mercy 
these means might prove. 

Denmark was despoiled to extend the territory of Prussia 
to the north. Austria, Bismarck's imwary accompUce in this act 
of spoliation, was robbed of its share of the spoils, and drawn into 
a war in which it met with disastrous defeat, the prestige of Prussia 
being vastly increased on the field of Sadowa. Subsequently came 
the great sti-uggle with France, fomented by his wiles and ending 
in triumph for his poHcies. So far all had gone well for him, the 
final outcome of his schemes resulting in the unification of the 
minor German states into one powerful empire. 

095). 



198 BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 

BISMARCK AS A STATESMAN 

It was in the formation of the modern German Empire that 
the far-sighted plans of Bismarck culminated. King William was 
a willing partner for this purpose, moving as he suggested and 
doing as he wished. The states of Germany, aside from Austria, 
had actively participated in the recent war, the steps towards 
unification which had been taken during the few preceding years 
having now reached the point in which a complete amalgamation 
might be effected. 

The Holy Roman Empire, which had lasted throughout the 
medieval period in some phase of strength and power, at times 
predominant, at times little more than a title, had received its 
death-blow from the hands of Napoleon and vanished from the 
historic stage. It was Bismarck's design to restore the German 
Empire — not the old, moth-eaten fiction of the past, but an entirely 
new one — and give Prussia the position it had earned, that of the 
great center of German racial unity. In this project Austria, long 
at the head of the old empire, was to have no part, the imperial 
dignity being conferred upon the venerable King William of Prussia, 
a monarch whose birth dated back to the eighteenth century, and 
who had lived throughout the Napoleonic wars. 

UNITING THE GERMAN STATES 

Near the close of 1870 Bismarck concluded treaties with the 
ambassadors of the South German States, in which they agreed to 
accept the constitution of the North German Union. These 
treaties were ratified, after some opposition from members of 
the lower house, by the legislatures of the four states involved. 
The next step in the proceeding was a suggestion from the king of 
Bavaria to the other princes that the imperial crown of Germany 
should be offered to King William of Prussia. J 

When the North German Diet at Berlin had given its consent 
to the new constitution, a congratulatory address was despatched to 
the Prussian monarch at Versailles. It announced to the aged 



BISMABGK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 197 

hero-king the nation's wish that he should accept the new dignity. 
He repUed to the deputation in solemn audience that he accepted 
the imperial dignity which the German nation and its princes had 
offered him. On the 1st of January, 1871, the new constitution was 
to come into operation. 

WILLIAM I CROWNED AT VERSAILLES 

The solemn assumption of the imperial office did not take place, 
however, until the 18th of January, the day on which, one hundred 
and seventy years before, the new emperor's ancestor, Frederick I, 
had placed the Prussian crown on his head at Konigsberg, and thus 
laid the basis of the growing greatness of his house. It was an 
ever-memorable coincidence that, in the superb-mirrored hall of 
the Versailles palace, where since the days of Richelieu so many 
plans had been concocted for the humiliation of Germany, King 
WilUam should now proclaim himself German emperor. After 
the reading of the imperial proclamation to the German people 
by Count Bismarck, the Grand Duke led a cheer, in which the 
whole assembly joined amid the singing of national hymns. Thus 
the important event had taken place which again summoned the 
German Empire to life, and made over the imperial crown with 
renewed splendor to another royal house. Barbarossa's old legend, 
that the dominion of the empire was, after long tribulation, to 
pass from the Hohenstaufen to the HohenzoUern, was now ful- 
filled; the dream long aspired after by German youth had now 
become a reaUty and a living fact. 

The tidings of the conclusion of peace with France, whose 
preliminaries were completed at Frankfort on the 10th of May, 
1871, filled all Germany with joy, and peace festivals on the most 
splendid scale extended from end to end of the new empire, in all 
parts of which an earnest spirit of patriotism was shown, while 
Germans from all regions of the world sent home expressions of 
warm sympathy with the new national organization of their 
fatherland. 



198 BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 

A SIGNIFICANT DECADE 

The decade just completed had been one of remarkable politi- 
cal changes in Europe, unsurpassed in significance during any other 
period of equal length. The temporal dominion of the pope had 
vanished and all Italy had been united under the rule of a single 
king. The empire of France had been overthrown and a republic 
established in its place, while that coimtrj^ had sunk greatly in 
prominence among the European states. Austria had been 
utterly defeated in war, had lost its last hold on Italy and its 
position of influence among the German states. And all the 
remaining German lands had united into a great and powerful 
empire, promising to gain such extraordinary military strength that 
the surrounding nations looked on in doubt, full of vague fears 
of trouble from this new and potent power introduced into 
their midst. 

Bismarck, however, showed an earnest desire to maintain 
international peace and good relations, seeking to win the con- 
fidence of foreign governments, while at the same time improving 
and increasing that miUtary force which had been proved to be so 
mighty an engine of war. 

In the constitution of the new empire two legislative bodies, 
already possessed by the Confederation of North German States, 
were provided for — the Bundesrath or Federal Council, whose mem- 
bers are annually appointed by the respective state governments, 
and the Reichstag or representative body, whose members are 
elected by universal suffrage for a period of three years, an annual 
session being required. Germany, therefore, in. its present 
organization, is practically a federal union of states, each with its own 
powers of internal government, and with a common legislature ap- 
proximating to our Senate and House of Representatives. But this 
did not make the German emperor a parUamentary monarch. From 
the fact that the consent of both assemblies was necessary to 
change the law, he governed as he pleased and had no other min- 
isterial representative than the high chancellor of the empire, 



BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 199 

depending solely on the sovereign. After 1870 he was m the em- 
pire what he had been previously in Prussia, the essential repre- 
sentative of the country and the supreme head of the miUtary forces. 

The remaining incidents of Bismarck's remarkable career may 
be briefly given. It consisted largely in a struggle with the 
Catholic Church organization, which had attained to great power 
in Gennany, and was aggressive to an extent that roused the 
vigorous opposition of the chancellor of the empire, who was not 
willing to acknowledge any power in Germany other than that 
of the emperor. 

King Frederick William IV, the predecessor of the reigning 
monarch, had made active efforts to strengthen the CathoUc 
Church in Prussia, its clergy gaining greater privileges in that 
Protestant state than they possessed in any of the Catholic states. 
They had estabhshed everywhere in North Germany their con- 
gregations and monasteries, and by their control of pubHc educa- 
tion seemed in a fair way eventually to make Catholicism supreme 
in the empire. 

THE PROBLEM OF CHURCH POWER 

This state of affairs Bismarck set himself energetically to 
reform. The minister of rehgious affairs was forced to resign, 
and his place was taken by Falk, an energetic statesman, who 
introduced a new school law, bringing the whole educational system 
under state control, and carefully regulating the power of the 
clergy over religious and moral education. This law met with 
such violent opposition that all the personal influence of Bismarck 
and Falk was needed to carry it, and it gave such deep offense 
to the pope that he refused to receive the German ambassador. 
He declared the Falk law invalid, and the German bishops united 
in a declaration against the chancellor. Bismarck retorted by a 
law expelling the Jesuits from the empire. 

In 1873 the state of affairs became so embittered that the 
rights and liberties of the citizens seemed to need protection against 



200 BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 

a priesthood armed with extensive powers of discipline and excom- 
munication. In consequence Bismarck introduced, and by his 
eloquence and influence carried, what were known as the May- 
Laws. These required the scientific education of the Catholic 
clergy, the confirmation of clerical appointments by the state, and 
the formation of a tribunal to consider and revise the conduct of 
the bishops. 

These enactments precipitated a bitter contest between Church 
and State, while the pope declared the May Laws null and void 
and threatened with excommunication all priests who should sub- 
mit to them. The State retorted by withdrawing its financial sup- 
port from the Catholic Church and abolishing those clauses of the 
constitution under which the Church claimed independence of the 
State. Pope Pius IX died in 1878, and on the election of Leo 
XIII attempts were made to reconcile the existing differences. 
The reconciUation was a victory for the Church, since the May Laws 
ceased to be operative, the church revenues were restored and the 
control of the clergy over education in considerable measure was 
regained. New concessions were granted in 1886 and 1887, and 
Bismarck felt himself beaten in his long conflict with his clerical 
opponents, who had proved too strong and deeply entrenched for him. 

PROGRESS OF SOCIALISM 
i 

Economic questions became also prominent, the revenues of 
the empire requiring some change in the system of free trade and 
the adoption of protective duties, while the railroads were acquired 
as public property by the various states of the empire. Mean- 
while the rapid growth of socialism excited apprehension, which 
was added to when two attempts were made on the hfe of the 
emperor. These were attributed to the sociahsts, and severe 
laws for the suppression of socialism were enacted. Bismarck 
also sought to cut the ground from under the feet of the sociahsts 
by an endeavor to improve the condition of the working classes. 
In 1881 laws were passed compelling employers to insure their 




a 
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oi •- 
fe o 

O tn 






ni O 



o 



BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 201 

workmen in case of sickness or accident, and in 1888 a system of 
compulsory insurance against death and old age was introduced. 
None of these measures, however, checked the growth of socialism, 
which very actively continued. 

In 1882 a meeting was arranged by the chancellor between 
the emperors of Germany, Russia, and Austria, which was looked 
upon in Europe as a political alliance. In 1878 Russia drifted 
somewhat apart from Germany, but in the following year an 
alliance of defense and offense was concluded with Austria, and 
a similar alHance at a later date with Italy. This, which contin- 
ued to 1914, was known as the Triple Alliance. In 1877 Bismarck 
announced his intention to retire, being worn, out with the great 
labors of his position. To this the emperor, who felt that his state 
rested on the shoulders of the "Iron Chancellor," would not listen, 
though he gave him indefinite leave of absence. 

On March 9, 1888, Emperor WilUam died. He was ninety 
years of age, having been bom in 1797. He was succeeded by his 
son Frederick, then incurably ill from a cancerous affection of the 
throat, which carried him to the grave after a reign of ninety-nine 
days. His oldest son, William, succeeded on June 15, 1888, as 
WilUam II. 

WILLIAM II AND THE RESIGNATION OF BISMARCK 

The liberal era which was looked for under Frederick was 
checked by his untimely death, his son at once returning to the 
policy of William I and Bismarck. He proved to be far more 
positive and dictatorial in disposition than his grandfather, with 
decided and vigorous views of his own, which soon brought lum 
into conflict with the equally positive chancellor. The result was 
a rupture with Bismarck, and his resignation (a virtual dismissal) 
from the premiership in 1890. The young emperor proposed to 
be his own minister and subsequently devoted himself in a large 
measure to the increase of the army and navy, a poHcy which 
brought him into frequent conflicts with the Reichstag, whose 



202 BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 

rapidly growing socialistic membership was in strong opposition 
to this development of miUtarism. 

The old statesman, to whom Germany owed so much, was 
deeply aggrieved by this lack of gratitude on the part of the self- 
opinionated young emperor, in view of his great services to the 
state. The wound rankled deeply, though a seeming reconcilia- 
tion took place. But the poHtical career of the great Bismarck 
was at an end, and he died on July 30, 1898. It is an interesting 
coincidence that almost at the same time died the distinguished 
but markedly different statesman of England, William Ewart 
Gladstone. Count Cavour, another great European statesman 
of the latter half of the nineteenth century, had completed his work 
and passed away nearly forty years before. 

The career of William II soon became one of much interest 
and some alarm to the other nations of Europe. His eagerness for 
the development of the army and navy, and the energy with which 
he pushed forward its organization and sought to add to its strength, 
seemed significant of warlike intentions, and there was dread that 
this energetic young monarch might break the peace of Europe, if 
only to prove the irresistible strength of the mihtary machine he 
had formed. But as years went on the apprehensions to which 
his early career and expressions gave rise were quieted, and the fear 
that he would plimge Europe into war lessened. The army and 
navy appeared to some as rather a costly plaything of the active 
young man than an engine of destruction, while it tended in con- 
siderable measure to the preservation of peace by rendering Germany 
a power dangerous to go to war with. 

The speeches with which the emperor began his reign showed 
an exaggerated sense of the imperial dignity, though his later career 
indicated far more judgment and good sense than the early display 
of overweening self-importance promised, and the views of WiUiam 
II eventually came to command far more respect than they did 
at first. He showed himself a man of exuberant energy. Despite 
a pennanent weakness of his left arm and a serious affection of the 



BISMARCK AI^D THE NEW GERMAN EMPI_RE 203 

ear, he early became a skilful horseman and an untirmg hunter, 
as well as an enthusiastic yachtsman, and there were few men in the 
empire more active and enterprising than the Kaiser. 

OLD AGE INSURANCE 

A principal cause of the break between William and Bismarck 
was the imperial interference with the laws for the suppression of 
socialism. As already stated, the old chancellor had established a 
system of compulsory old age insurance, through which workmen 
and their employers — aided by the state — were obliged to provide 
for the support of artisans after a certain age. The system seems 
to have worked satisfactorily, but socialism of a more radical kind 
grew in the empire far more rapidly than the emperor approved of, 
and he vigorously, though unsuccessfully, endeavored to prevent 
its increase. Another of his favorite measures, a reUgious education 
bill, he was obliged to withdraw on account of the opposition it 
excited. On more than one occasion he came into sharp conflict 
with the Reichstag concerning increased taxation for the army 
and navy, and a strong party against his autocratic methods sprang 
up, and forced him more than once to recede from warmly-cherished 
measures. 

POLITICAL AND INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS IN GERMANY 

It may be of interest here to say something concerning the 
organization of the German empire. The constitution of this empire, 
as adopted April 16, 1871, proposes to ''form an eternal union 
for the protection of the realm and the care of the welfare of the 
German people," and places the supreme direction of military and 
political affairs in the King of Prussia, under the title of Deutscher 
Kaiser (German emperor). The war-making powers of the emperor, 
however, are restricted, since he is required to obtain the consent 
of the Bundesrath (the Federal Council) before he can declare war 
otherwise than for the defense of the realm. His authority as 
emperor, in fact, is much less than that which he exerciser a? King 



204 BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 

of Prussia, since the imperial legislature is independent of him, 
he having no power of veto over the laws passed by it. His actual 
miUtary power, however, is practically supreme, as demonstrated 
in the opening events of the war of 1914. 

The legislature, as stated, consists of two bodies, the Bundes- 
rath, representing the states of the union, whose members, 58 in 
number, are chosen for each session by the several state governments; 
and the Reichstag, representing the people, whose members, 397 
in number, are elected by universal suffrage for periods of five years. 
The German union, as constituted in 1914, comprised four king- 
doms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principahties, three 
sovereign cities, and the Reichsland of Alsace-Lorraine; twenty- 
six separate states in all. It included all the German peoples of 
Europe with the exception of those in Austria. 

The progress of Germany within the modern period has been 
very great. The population of the states of the empire, 24,831,000 
at the end of the Napoleonic wars, had become, a century later, over 
64,000,000, having added 40,000,000 to the roll of inhabitants. The 
country, once divided into an unwieldy multitude of states, often 
of minute proportions, has become consohdated into the number 
above named, each of these possessing some degree of importance. 
These, as combined into a federal union, or empire, have an area 
of 208,830 square miles, of which Prussia holds the lion's share, its 
area being 134,605 square miles. 

The presidency of the empire belongs to the king of Prussia 
and is hereditary in his family. Besides the Imperial ParHament, 
each state has its own special legislature and laws, but railroads 
regarded as necessary for the defense of Germany or the facihtating 
of general communications may come under a law of the empire, 
even against the opposition of the members of the confederation 
whose territory is traversed. The states have their respective 
armies, but it is the emperor who disposes of them; he appoints the 
heads of the contingents, approves the generals, and has the right 
to establish fortresses over the whole territory of the empire. 



BISMARCK AND THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 206 

The wealth of the German empire has grown in a far greater 
area than its population, it having developed into the most active 
manufacturing country in Europe. Agriculture has similarly 
advanced, and one of its chief products, that of the sugar beet, has 
enormously increased, beet-root sugar being among its chief indus- 
trial yields. In addition, Germany has grown to be one of the most 
active conmiercial nations of the earth. Thus it has taken a place 
among the most active productive and commercial countries, its 
wealth and importance being correspondingly augmented. These 
particulars are of interest as showing the standing of Germany at 
the outbreak of the war of 1914 and indicating its degree of abihty 
to bear the fearful strain of so great a war. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Gladstone as an Apostle of Refonn 

Great Britain Becomes a World Power 

Gladstone and Disraeli — Gladstone's Famous Budget — ^A Suffrage Reform Bill — 
Disraeli's Reform Measure — Irish Church Disestablishment — ^An Irish Land Bill — 
Desperate State of Ireland — The Coercion BiU — ^War in Africa — Home Rule for 

Ireland 

IT is a fact of much interest, as showing the growth of the 
human mind, that WiUiam Ewart Gladstone, the great advo- 
cate of English LiberaUsm, made his first poUtical speech in 
vigorous opposition to the Reform Bill of 1831. He was then a 
student at Oxford University, but this boyish address had such 
an effect upon his hearers, that Bishop Wordsworth felt sure the 
speaker would "one day rise to be Prime Minister of England." 
This prophetic utterance may be mated with another one, by 
Archdeacon Denison, who said: "I have just heard the best speech 
I ever heard in my life, by Gladstone, against the Reform Bill. 
But, mark my words, that man will one day be a Liberal, for he 
argued against the Bill on liberal grounds." 

Both these far-seeing men hit the mark. Gladstone became 
Prime Minister and the leader of the Liberal Party in England. 
Yet he had been reared as a Conservative, and for many years 
he marched under the banner of Conservatism. His political 
career began in the first Reform Parhament, in January, 1833. 
Two years afterward he was made an under-secretary in Sir Robert 
Peel's Cabinet. It was under the same premier that he first 
became a full member of the cabinet, in 1845, as Secretary of 
State for the Colonies. He was still a Tory in home poHtics, but 
had become a Liberal in his commercial ideas, and was Peel's right- 
hand man in carrying out his great commercial poHcy. 

(206j 



GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 207 

The repeal of the Corn-Laws was the work for which his 
cabinet had been formed, and Gladstone, as the leading free- 
trader in the Tory ranks, was called to it. As for Cobden, the 
apostle of free-trade, Gladstone admired him immensely. "I do 
not know," he said in later years, "that there is in any period a 
man whose pubHc career and life were nobler or more admirable. 
Of course, I except Washington. Washington, to my mind, is 
the purest figure hi history." As an advocate of free trade Glad- 
stone first came into connection with another noble figure, that 
of John Bright, who was to remain associated with him diu-ing 
most of his career. In 1857 he first took rank as one of the great 
moral forces of modern times. In that year he visited Naples, 
where he saw the barbarous treatment of poHtical prisoners imder 
the government of the infamous King Bomba, and described them 
in letters whose indignation was breathed in such tremendous tones 
that England was stirred to its depths and all Europe awakened. 
These thrilling epistles gave the cause of ItaUan freedom an impetus 
that had much to do with its subsequent success, and gained for 
Gladstone the warmest veneration of patriotic ItaUans. 

GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 

In 1852 he first came into opposition with the man against 
whom he was to be pitted during the remainder of his career, 
Benjamin Disraeli, who had made himself a power in Parhament, 
and in that year became Chancellor of the Exchequer m Lord 
Derby's Cabinet and leader of the House of Commons. The 
revenue budget introduced by him showed a sad lack of financial 
abihty, and called forth sharp criticisms, to which he repHed in 
a speech made up of scoffs, gibes and biting sarcasms, so daring 
and audacious in character as almost to intimidate the House. 
As he sat down Mr. Gladstone rose and laimched forth into an 
oration which became historic. He gave voice to that indignation 
which lay suppressed beneath the cowed feeling which for the 
moment the Chancellor of the Exchequer's performance had left 



208 GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 

among his hearers. In a few minutes the House was wildly cheer- 
ing the intrepid champion who had rushed into the breach, and 
when Mr. Gladstone concluded, having torn to shreds the proposals 
of the budget, a majority followed him into the division lobby, 
and Mr. Disraeli found his government beaten by nineteen votes. 
Such was the first great encounter between the two rivals. 

Gladstone's famous budget 

In the cabinet that followed, headed by Lord Aberdeen, 
Gladstone succeeded Disraeli as Chancellor of the Exchequer, a 
position in which he was to make a great mark. In April, 1853, 
he introduced his first budget, a marvel of ingenious statesman- 
ship, in its highly successful effort to equalize taxation. It remitted 
various taxes which had pressed hard upon the poor and restricted 
business, and replaced them by applying the succession duty to 
real estate, increasing the duty on spirits, and extending the 
income tax. 

Taken altogether, and especially in its expedients to equalize 
taxation, this first budget of Mr. Gladstone may be justly called 
the greatest of the century. The speech in which it was intro- 
duced and expounded created an extraordinary impression on the 
House and the country. For the first time in ParUament figures 
were made as interesting as a fairy tale; the dry bones of statistics 
were invested with a new and potent life, and it was shown how 
the yearly balancing of the national accounts might be directed 
by and made to promote the profoundest and most fruitful prin- 
ciples of statesmanship. With such lucidity and picturesqueness 
was this financial oratory rolled forth that the dullest intellect 
could follow with pleasure the complicated scheme; and for five 
hom-s the House of Commons sat as if it were under the sway of 
a magician's wand. When Mr. Gladstone resumed his seat, it 
was felt that the career of the coalition ministry was assured by 
the genius that was discovered in its Chancellor of the Exchequer. 

It was, indeed, to Gladstone's remarkable oratorical powers 



GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 209 

that much of his success as a statesman was due. No man of his 
period was his equal in swaying and convincing his hearers. His 
rich and musical voice, his varied and animated gestures, his 
impressive and vigorous delivery, great fluency, and wonderful 
precision of statement, gave him a power over an audience which 
few men of the century have enjoyed. His sentences, indeed, were 
long and involved, growing more so as his years advanced, but 
their fine choice of words, rich rhetoric, and eloquent delivery car- 
ried away all that heard him, as did his deep earnestness and 
intense conviction of the truth of his utterances. 

Meanwhile his Liberalism had been steadily growing, reach- 
ing its culmination in 1865, when the Tory University of Oxford, 
which he had long represented, rejected him as its member, unable 
longer to swallow his ultra views. The rejection was greeted by 
him as a compliment. He at once offered himself as a candidate 
for South Lancashire and in the opening of his speech at Man- 
chester said: "At last, my friends, I am come among you; to use 
an expression which has become very famous and is not likely to 
be forgotten, 'I am come among you unmuzzled.' " 

Unmuzzled he indeed was, free at last to give the fullest 
expression to his Liberal faith. In 1866 he became, for the first 
time in his career, leader of the House of Commons — Lord Russell, 
the Prime Minister, being in the House of Lords. Many of his 
friends feared for him in this difficult position; but the event 
proved that they had no occasion for alarm, he showing himself 
one of the most successful leaders the House had ever had. 

A SUFFRAGE REFORM BILL 

His first important duty in this position was to introduce the 
new Suffrage Reform Bill, a measure to extend the franchise in 
counties and boroughs that would have added about 400,000 
voters to the electorate. In the debate that followed Gladstone 
and Disraeli were again pitted against each other in a grand 
oratorical contest. Disraeli taunted him with his youthful speech 



210 GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 

at Oxford against the Reform Bill of 1831. Gladstone retorted by- 
scoring his opponent for clinging to a conservatism which he gloried 
in having been strong enough to reject. He ended with this stir- 
ring prediction: 

"You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side. 
The great social forces which move onwards in their might and 
majesty, and which the tumult of our debates does not for a moment 
impede or disturb, those great social forces are against you: they 
are marshaled on our side; and the banner which we now carry 
into this fight, though perhaps at some moment it may droop over 
oiur sinking heads, yet it soon again will float in the eye of Heaven, 
and it will be borne by the firm hands of the united people of the 
three kingdoms, perhaps not to an easy, but to a certain, and 
to a not far distant, victory." 

He was right in saying that it would not be a distant victory. 
DisraeU and his party defeated the bill, but the people rose in a 
vigorous demand for it, ten thousand of them marching past Glad- 
stone's house, singing odes in honor of "the People's William." 
John Bright, an eloquent orator and strenuous advocate of moral 
reform and political progress, joined Gladstone in his campaign. 
Through the force of their eloquence the tide of pubhc opinion 
rose to such a height that the new Derby-Disraeh ministry was 
obliged to bring in a bill similar in purpose to that which it had 
overthrown. 

DISRAKLI'S REFORM MEASURE 

This Tory bill proved satisfactory to Gladstone in its general 
features. He had won a great victory in forcing its^ introduction. 
But he proposed so many changes in its details — all of them yielded 
in committee — that a satirical lord remarked that nothing of the 
original bill remained but its opening word "Whereas." As 
thus modified, it was more liberal than the measure that had been 
defeated, and the people gave full credit for it to Gladstone, whom 
they credited with giving them their right to vote. 



GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 211 

The two potent political champions, Gladstone and Disraeli, 
soon after attained the summit height of British poHtical ambition. 
In February, 1868, the failing health of I^ord Derby forced him to 
resign the ministry, and Disraeli succeeded him as Prime Minister, 
thus the "Asian Mystery," as he had been entitled, gained the 
highest office in the British government. He did not hold this 
office long. His party was defeated on the question of the disestab- 
lishment of the Irish Church, and on December 4th of the same year 
Gladstone took his place. Thus, after thirty-five years of public 
life, Gladstone had attained the post in which he was to spend 
most of his later life. 

Bishop Wilberforce, who met him in this hour of triumph, 
wrote thus of him in his journal: ''Gladstone as ever great, earnest 
and honest; as unlike the tricky Disraeli as possible. He is so 
del^htfuUy true and the same; just as full of interest in every good 
thing of every kind." 

The period which followed the election of 1868 — the period 
of the Gladstone Administration of 1868-74 — has been called "the 
golden age of Liberalism." It was certainly a period of great 
reforms. The first, the most heroic, and probably — taking all the 
results into account — the most completelj^ successful of these, was 
the disestablishment of the Irish Church. 

IRISH CHURCH DISESTABLISHMENT 

Any interference with the prerogatives or absoluteness of an 
established church institution is sure to arouse vigorous opposition. 
The Disestablishment Bill, introduced on the 1st of March, 1869, 
was greeted in Ireland with the wildest protests from those interested 
in the Establishment. One synod, with a large assumption of 
inspired knowledge, denounced it as "highly offensive to the Al- 
mighty God." A martial clergyman offered to "kick the Queen's 
crown into the Boyne," if she assented to any such measure. An- 
other proposed to fight with the Bible in one hand and the sword 
in the other. 



212 .GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 

These wild outbreaks of theological partisanship had no effect on 
Gladstone, whose speech was one of the greatest marvels amongst 
his oratorical achievements. His chief opponent declared that, 
though it lasted three hours, it did not contain a redundant word. 
The scheme which it unfolded — a scheme which withdrew the tem- 
poral establishment of a Church in such a manner that the Church 
was benefited, not injured, and which lifted from the backs of an 
oppressed people an intolerable burden — ^was a triumph of creative 
genius. 

Disraeh's speech in opposition to this measiu-e was referred 
to by the London Times as ''flimsiness reUeved by spangles." 
After a debate in which Mr. Bright made one of his most famous 
speeches, the bill was carried by a majority of 118. Before this 
strong manifestation of the popular will the House of Lords, which 
deeply disliked the bill, felt obliged to give way, and passed it by 
a majority of seven. 

AN IRISH LAND BILL 

In 1870 Mr. Gladstone introduced his Irish Land Bill, a meas- 
ure of reform which Parliament had for years refused to grant. 
By it the tenant was given the right to hold his farm as long as 
he paid his rent, and received a claim upon the improvement made 
by himself and his predecessors — a tenant-right which he could sell. 
This bill was triumphantly carried; and another important Liberal 
measure, Mr. Forster's Education Bill, became law. 

Other liberal measures were passed, but the tide which had 
set so long in this direction turned at last, the government was 
defeated in 1873 on a bill for University Education, and in a sub- 
sequent election the Liberal party met with defeat. Gladstone at 
once resigned and was succeeded by DisraeK. Two years later the 
latter was raised to the peerage by the Queen under the title of the 
Earl of Beaconsfield. Gladstone was not in the field for honors 
of this type. He much preferred to inherit the title of a distin- 
guished predecessor, that of ''The Great Commoner." During 



GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 213 

his recess from office he occupied himself in literary labors and as 
a critical commentator upon the foreign policy of Disraeli, which 
plunged the country into a Zulu war which Gladstone denounced 
as "one of the most monstrous and indefensible in our history," 
and an Afghan war which he described as a national crime. 

These and other acts of Tory policy in time brought liberalism 
again into the forefront, an election held in 1880 resulted in a great 
Liberal victory, DisraeU (then Lord Beaconsfield) resigned, and 
Gladstone was once again called to the head of the ministry. In 
the new administration the foreign policy, the meddling in the 
concerns of the East, which had held precedence over domestic 
affairs under the preceding administration, vanished from sight, 
and the Irish question again became prominent. Ireland had now 
gained an able leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, founder of the 
Irish Land League, a trade union of Irish farmers, and its affairs 
could no longer be consigned to the backgroimd. 

Gladstone, in assuming control of the new government, was 
quite unaware of the task before him. When he had completed 
his work with the Church and the Land bills ten years before, he 
fondly fancied that the Irish question was definitely settled. The 
Home Rule movement, which was started in 1870, seemed to him 
a wild delusion which would die away of itself. In 1884 he said: 
^'1 frankly admit that I had had much upon my hands connected 
with the doings of the Beaconsfield Government in every quarter 
of the world, and I did not know — ^no one knew— the severity of 
the crisis that was already swelling upon the horizon, and that 
shortly after rushed upon us like a flood." 

DESFEKATE STATE OF IRELAND 

He was not long in discovering the gravity of the situation, 
of which the House had been warned by Mr. Parnell. The famine 
had brought its crop of misery, and, while the charitable were seek- 
ing to relieve the distress, many of the landlords were turning adrift 
their tenants for non-payment of rents. The Irish party brought 



214 GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE 0¥ REFORM 

in a Bill for the Suspension of Evictions, which the government 
replaced by a similar one for Compensation for Distm'bance. This 
was passed with a large majority by the Commons, but was rejected 
by the Lords, and Ireland was left to face its misery without relief. 
The state of Ireland at that moment was too critical to be 
dealt with in this manner. The rejection of the Compensation for 
Disturbance Bill was, to the peasantry whom it had been intended 
to protect, a message of despair, and it was followed by the usual 
symptom of despair in Ireland, an outbreak of agrarian crime. On 
the one hand over 17,000 persons were evicted; on the other there 
was a dreadful crop of murders and outrages. The Land League 
sought to do what ParUament did not; but in doing so it came in 
contact with the law. Moreover, the revolution — for revolution 
it seemed to be — ^grew too formidable for its control; the utmost 
it succeeded in doing was in some sense to ride without directing 
the storm. The first decisive step of Mr. Forster, the chief secretary 
for Ireland, was to strike a blow at the Land League. In November 
he ordered the prosecution of Mr. Pamell, Mr. Biggar, and several 
of the officials of the organization, and before the year was out he 
announced his intention of introducing a Coercion Bill. This step 
threw the Irish members under Mr. Parnell and the Liberal Govern- 
ment into relations of definitive antagonism. 

THE COERCION BILL 

Mr. Forster introduced his Coercion Bill on Januaiy 24, 1881. 
It was a formidable measure, which enabled the chief secretary, 
by signing a warrant, to arrest any man on suspicion of having 
committed a given offense, and to imprison hun without trial at 
the pleasure of the government. It practically sufpended the 
liberties of Ireland. The Irish members exhausted every resom'ce 
of parhamentary action in resisting it, and their tactics resulted in 
several scenes unprecedented in parhamentary history. In order 
to pass the bill it was necessary to suspend them in a body several 
times, Mr. Gladstone, with manifest pain, found himself, as leader 



GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 215 

of the House, the agent by whom this extreme resolve had to be 
executed. 

The Coercion Bill passed, Mr. Gladstone introduced his Land 
Bill of 1881, which was the measure of conciliation intended to 
balance the measure of repression. This was really a great and 
sweeping reform, whose dominant feature was the introduction 
of the novel and far-reaching principle of the state stepping in 
between landlord and tenant and fixing the rents. The bill had 
some defects, as a series of amending acts, which were subsequently 
passed by both Liberal and Tory governments, proved; but, apart 
from these, it was on the whole the greatest measure of land reform 
ever passed for Ireland by the Imperial Parliament. 

But Ireland was not yet satisfied. Parnell had no confidence 
in the good intentions of the government, and took steps to test 
its honesty, which so angered Mr. Forster that he arrested Mr. 
Parnell and several other leaders and pronounced the Land League 
an illegal body. Forster was well-meaning but mistaken. He 
fancied that by locking up the ring-leaders he could bring quiet 
to the country. On the contrary, affairs were soon far worse than 
ever, crime and outrage spreading widely. In despair, Mr. Forster 
released Parnell and resigned. All now seemed hopeful; coercion 
had proved a failure; peace and quiet were looked for; when, 
four days afterward, the whole country was horrified by a terrible 
crime. The new Secretary for Ireland, Lord Cavendish, and the 
imder-secretary, Mx. Burke, were attacked and hacked to death 
with knives in Phoenix Park. Everywhere panic and indignation 
arose. A new Coercion Act was passed without delay. It was 
vigorously put into effect, and a state of virtual war between Eng- 
land and Ireland again came into existence. 

WARS IN AFRICA 

Meanwhile Great Britain had been brought back into the tide 
of foreign affairs. Events were taking place abroad which must 
here be dealt with briefly. The ambitious Briton, who loves to 



216 GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 

carry the world on his shoulders, had made the control of the Suez 
Canal an excuse for meddling with the government of Egypt. The 
immediate results were a revolution that drove Ismail Pasha from 
his throne, and a revolt of the people under an ambitious leader 
named Arabi Pasha, who seized Alexandria and drove out the 
British, many of whom were killed. 

Gladstone, who deprecated war, now foimd himseh with a 
conflict thrust upon his hands. The British fleet bombarded Alex- 
andria, and the British army occupied it after it had been half 
reduced to ashes. Soon after General Wolseley defeated Arabi 
and his army and the insurrection ended. A sequel to this affair 
was a formidable outbreak in the Soudan, under El Mahdi, a 
Mohanamedan fanatic, who captured the city of Khartoum and killed 
the famous General Gordon. Years passed before Upper "Pgypt 
was reconquered, it being recovered only at the close of the century. 
Since then Egypt has remained under British control. 

There were serious troubles also in South Africa. The Brit- 
ish of Cape Colony had pushed their way into the Boer settlement 
of the Transvaal, claiming jurisdiction over it. The vahant Dutch 
settlers broke into war, and dealt the invaders a signal defeat at 
Majuba Hill. This was the openuig step in a series of occurrences 
which led to the later Boer war, in which the British, with great 
loss, conquered the Boers, followed in later years by a practical 
reconquest of the country by its Boer inhabitants in peaceful 
ways. 

Such were the wars of the Gladstone administration, events 
of which he did not approve, but into which he was irresistibly 
drawn. At home the Irish question continued in the forefront. 
The African wars having weakened the administration, a vigorous 
assault was made on it by the Irish party in 1885, and it fell. But 
its demise was a very brief one. After a short experience of a 
Tory ministry under Lord Salisbury, Pamell's party ralhed to 
Gladstone's side, the new government was defeated, and on February 
1, 1886, Gladstone became Prime Minister for the third time. 





m 



iife.lfcn< 



GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM , 217 

HOME RULE FOR IRELAND 

During the brief interval his opinions had suffered a great 
revolution. He no longer thought that Ireland had all it could 
justly demand. He returned to power as an advocate of a most 
radical measure, that of Home Rule for Ireland, a restoration of 
that separate Parliament which it had lost in 1800. He also had 
a scheme to buy out the Irish landlords and establish a peasant 
proprietary by state aid. His new views were revolutionary in 
character, but he did not hesitate — ^he never hesitated to do what 
his conscience told him was right. On April 8, 1886, he intro- 
duced to Parliament his Home Rule Bill. 

The scene that afternoon was one of the most remarkable in 
Parliamentary history. Never before was such interest manifested 
in a debate by either the pubUc or the members of the House. 
In order to secure their places, members arrived at St. Stephen's 
at six o'clock in the morning, and spent the day on the premises; 
and, a thing quite unprecedented, members who could not find 
places on the benches filled up the floor of the House with rows of 
chairs. The strangers', diplomats', peers', and ladies' galleries 
were filled to overflowing. Men begged even to be admitted to 
the ventilating passages beneath the floor of the chamber that 
they might in some sense be witnesses of the greatest feat in the 
lifetime of an illustrious old man of eighty. Around Palace Yard 
an enormous crowd surged, waiting to give the veteran a welcome 
as he drove up from Downing Street. 

Mr. Gladstone arrived in the House, pale and still panting 
from the excitement of his reception in the streets. As he sat 
there the entire Liberal party — with the exception of Lord Hart- 
ington. Sir Henry James, Mr. Chamberlain and Sir George Trev- 
elyan — and the Nationalist members, by a spontaneous impulse, 
sprang to their feet and cheered him again and again. The speech 
which he delivered was in every way worthy of the occasion. It 
expounded, with marvelous lucidity and a noble eloquence, a 
tremendous scheme of constructive legislation — the re-establishment 



218 GLADSTONE AS AN APOSTLE OF REFORM 

of a legislature in Ireland, but one subordinate to the Imperial 
Parliament, and hedged round with every safeguard which could 
protect the unity of the Empire. It took three hours in deUvery, 
and was Hstened to tlu*oughout with the utmost attention on every 
side of the House. At its close all parties united in a tribute of 
admiration for the genius which had astonished them with such 
an exhibition of its powers. 

Yet it is one thing to cheer an orator, another thing to vote 
for a revolution. The bill was defeated — as it was almost sure 
to be. Mr. Gladstone at once dissolved Parliament and appealed 
to the country in a new election, with the result that he was 
decisively defeated. His bold declaration that the contest was one 
between the classes and the masses turned the aristocracy against 
him, while he had again roused the bitter hatred of his opponents. 

Gladstone, the "Grand Old Man," a title which he had nobly 
won, returned to power in 1892, after a period of wholesale coercion 
in Ireland. He was not to remain there long. He brought in a 
new Home Rule Bill, supported it with much of his old vigor, and 
had the intense satisfaction of having it passed, with a majority 
of thirty-four. It was defeated in the House of Lords, and Home 
Rule stiU remains the prominent issue in Ireland, which it has 
divided into two camps, Protestant Ulster being in revolt against 
the Cathohc provinces. 

With this great event the pubHc career of the Grand Old Man 
came to an end. The burden had grown too heavy for his reduced 
strength. In March, 1894, to the consternation of his party, he 
amiounced his intention of retiring from public life. The Queen 
offered, as she had done once before, to raise him to the peerage 
as an earl, but he declined the proffer. His own plain name was a 
title higher than that of any earldom in the kingdom. 

On May 19, 1898, Wilham Ewart Gladstone laid down the 
burden of his life as he had already done that of labor. The noblest 
figm-e in legislative life of the nineteenth century had passed away 
from earth. 



CHAPTER XIV 
The French Republic 

Struggles op a New Nation 

The Republic Organized — The Commune of Paris — Instability of the Government — 
Thiers Proclaimed President — Punishment of the Unsuccessftd Generals — MacMahon 
a Royalist President — Bazaine's Sentence and Escape — Gr^vy, Gambetta and Boulanger 
— The Panama Canal Scandal — Despotism of the Army Leaders — The Dreyfus Case — 
Church and State — ^The Moroccan Controversy. 

IT has been already told how the capitulation of the French army 
at Sedan and the captivity of Louis Napoleon were followed 
in Paris by the overthrow of the empire and the formation 
of a repubhc, the third in the history of French political changes. 
A provisional government was formed, the legislative assembly 
was dissolved, and all the court paraphemaha of the imperial 
estabhshment disappeared. The new government was called in 
Paris the "Government of Lawyers," most of its members and 
officials belonging to that profession. At its head was General 
Trochu, in command of the army in Paris; among its chief mem- 
bers were Jules Favre and Gambetta. While upright in its mem- 
bership and honorable in its purposes, it was an arbitrary body, 
formed by a cowp d'etat like that by wliich Napoleon had seized 
the reins of power, and not destined for a long existence. 

THE REPUBLIC ORGANIZED 

The news of the fall of Metz and the surrender of Bazaine and 
his army served as a fresh spark to the inflammable public feeling 
of France. In Paris the Red Republic raised the banner of 
insurrection against the government of the national defense and 
endeavored to revive the spirit of the Commune of 1793. The 
insurgents marched to the senate-house, demanded the election of 

(219) 



220 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

a municipal council which should share power with the govern- 
ment, and proceeded to imprison Trochu, Jules Favre, and their 
associates. This, however, was but a temporary success of the 
Commune, and the provisional government continued in existence 
until the end of the war, when a national assembly was elected by 
the people and the temporary government was set aside. Gam- 
betta, the dictator, "the organizer of defeats," as he was sar- 
castically entitled, lost his power, and the aged statesman and 
historian, Louis Thiers, was chosen as chief of the executive depart- 
ment of the new government. 

The treaty of peace with Germany, including, as it did, the loss 
of Alsace and Lorraine and the payment of an indemnity of 
$1,000,000,000, roused once more the fierce passions of the radicals 
and the masses of the great cities, who passionately denounced the 
treaty as due to cowardice and treason. The dethroned emperor 
added to the excitement by a manifesto, in which he protested 
against his deposition by the assembly and called for a fresh elec- 
tion. The final incitement to insurrection came when the Assembly 
decided to hold its sessions at Versailles instead of in Paris, whose 
unruly populace it feared. 

THE COMMUNE OF PARIS 

In a moment all the revolutionary elements of the great city 
were in a blaze. The social democratic "Commune," elected from 
the central committee of the National Guard, renounced obe- 
dience to the government and the National Assembly, and broke 
into open revolt. An attempt to repress the movement merely 
added to its violence, and all the riotous populace of Paris sprang 
to arms. A new war was about to be inaugurated in that city 
which had just suffered so severely from the guns of the Germans, 
and around which German troops were still encamped. 

The government had neglected to take possession of the 
cannon on Montmartre; and now, when the troops of the line, 
instead of firing on the insurrectionists, went over in crowds to 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 221 

their side, the supremacy over Paris fell into the hands of the 
wildest demagogues. A fearful civil war commenced, and in the 
same forts which the Germans had shortly before evacuated firing 
once more resounded; the houses, gardens, and villages around 
Paris were again sm-rendered to destruction; the creations of art, 
industry, and civilization were endangered, and the abodes of 
wealth and pleasure were transformed into dreary wildernesses. 

The wild outbreaks of fanaticism on the part of the Commime 
recalled the scenes of the revolution of 1789, and in these spring 
days of 1871 Paris added another leaf to its long history of crime 
and violence. The insurgents, roused to fury by the efforts of 
the government to suppress them, murdered two generals, Lecomte 
and Thomas, and fired on the unarmed citizens who, as the "friends 
of order," desired a reconcihation with the authorities at Versailles. 
They formed a government of their own, extorted loans from wealthy 
citizens, confiscated the property of religious societies, and seized 
and held as hostages Archbishop Darboy and many other distin- 
guished clergymen and citizens. 

Meanwhile the investing French troops, led by Marshal Mac- 
Mahon, gradually fought their way through the defenses and into 
the suburbs of the city, and the speedy surrender of the anarchists 
in the capital became inevitable. This necessity excited their 
passions to the most violent extent, and, with the wild fury of 
savages, they set themselves to do all the damage they could to 
the historical monuments of Paris. The noble Vendome column, 
the symbol of the warlike renown of France, was torn down from 
its pedestal and hurled prostrate into the street. The most historic 
buildings in the city were set on fire, and either partially or entirely 
destroyed. Among these were the Tuileries, a portion of the Louvre, 
the Luxembourg, the Palais Royal, the Elysee, etc.; while several 
of the imprisoned hostages, foremost among them Darboy, Arch- 
bishop of Paris, and the universally respected minister Daguerry, 
were shot by the infuriated mob. Such crimes excited the Ver- 
sailles troops to terrible vengeance, when they at last succeeded 



222 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

in repressing the rebellion. Tliey made their way along a bloody 
course; human life was counted as nothing; the streets were stained 
with blood and strewn with corpses, and the Seine once more ran 
red between its banks. When at last the Commune surrendered, 
the judicial courts at Versailles began their work of retribution. 
The leaders and participators in the rebelUon who could not save 
themselves by flight were shot by hundreds, confined in fortresses, 
or transported to the colonies. For more than a year the imprison- 
ments, trials, and executions continued, mihtary courts being estab- 
lished which excited the world for months by their wholesale con- 
demnations to exile and to death. The carnival of anarchy was 
followed by one of pitiless revenge. 

INSTABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT 

The Republican government of France, which had been 
accepted in an emergency, was far from carrying with it the sup- 
port of the whole of the Assembly or of the people, and the aged, 
but active and keen-witted Thiers had to steer through a medley 
of opposing interests and sentiments. His govermnent was con- 
sidered, alike by the Monarchists and the Jacobins, as only provis- 
ional, and the Bourbons and Napoleonists on the one hand and 
the advocates of ''hberty, equahty and fraternity" on the other, 
intrigued for its overthrow. But the German armies still remained 
on French soil, pending the payment of the costs of the war; and 
the astute chief of the executive power possessed moderation enough 
to pacify the passions of the people, to restrain their hatred of the 
Germans, which was so boldly exhibited in the streets and in the 
courts of justice, and to quiet the clamor for a war of revenge. 

The position of parties at home was confused and distracted, 
and a disturbance of the existing order could only lead to anarchy 
and civil war. Thiers was thus the indispensable man of the mo- 
ment, and so much was he himself impressed by the consciousness of 
this fact, that many times, by the threat of resignation, he brought 
the opposing elements in the Assembly to haimony and compliance. 



THE FRENCH REPXJBLIC 223 

This occurred even during the siege of Paris, when the forces of 
the government were in conflict with the Commune. In the Assem- 
bly there was shown an inchnation to moderate or break through the 
sharp centralization of the government, and to procure some auton- 
omy for the provinces and towns. When, therefore, a new scheme 
was discussed, a large part of the Assembly demanded that the 
mayors should not, as formerly, be appointed by the government, 
but be elected by the town councils. Only with difficulty was 
Thiers able to effect a compromise, on the strength of which the 
government was permitted the right of appointment for all towns 
numbering over twenty thousand. 

In the elections for the councils the Moderate Repubhcans 
proved triumphant. With a supple dexterity, Thiers knew how 
to steer between the Democratic-Republican party and the Mon- 
archists. When Gambetta endeavored to establish a "league of 
Republican towns," the attempt was forbidden as illegal; and 
when the decree of banishment against the Bourbon and Orleans 
princes was set aside, and the latter returned to France, Thiers 
knew how to postpone the entrance of the Due d'Aumale and 
Prince de Joinville, who had been elected deputies, into the Assembly 
at least imtil the end of the year. 

THIERS PROCLAIMEI) PRESIDENT 

The briUiant success of the national loan went far to strengthen 
the position of Thiers. The high offers for a share in this loan, 
which indicated the inexhaustible wealth of the nation and the 
solid credit of France abroad, promised a rapid payment of the war 
indemnity, the consequent evacuation of the country by the Ger- 
man army of occupation, and a restoration of the disturbed finances 
of the state. The foolish manifesto of the Count de Chambord, 
who declared that he had only to return with the white banner to 
be made sovereign of France, brought all practical men to the side 
of Thiers, and he had, during the last days of August, 1871, the tri- 
umph of being proclaimed '' President of the French Republic." 



224 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

The new president aimed, next to the Hberation of the garri- 
soned provinces from the German troops of occupation, at the reor- 
ganization of the French army. Yet he could not bring himself 
to the decision of enforcing in its entirety the principle of general 
armed service, such as had raised Prussia from a state of depression 
to one of military regeneration. Universal military service in France 
was, it is true, adopted in name, and^ the army was increased to an 
immense extent, but under such conditions and limitations that 
the richer and more educated classes could exempt themselves from 
service in the army; and thus the active forces, as before, consisted 
of professional soldiers. And when the minister for education, 
Jules Simon, introduced an educational law based on liberal prin- 
ciples, he experienced on the part of the clergy such violent oppo- 
sition that the government dropped the measure. 

In order to place the army in the condition which Thiers 
desired, an increase in the military budget was necessary, and 
consequently an enhancement of the general revenues of the state. 
For this purpose a return to the tariff system, which had been abol- 
ished under the empire, was proposed, but excited so great an 
opposition in the Assembly that six months passed before it could 
be carried. The new organization of the army, undertaken with 
a view of placing France on a level in military strength with her 
late conqueror, was now eagerly undertaken by the president. 
An active army, with five years' service, was to be added to a "terri- 
torial army," a kind of mihtia. And so great was the demand on 
the portion of the nation capable of bearing arms that the new 
French army exceeded in numbers that of any other nation. 

But all the statesmanship of Thiers could not overcome the 
anarchy in the Assembly, where the forces for monarchy and repub- 
licanism were bitterly opposed to each other. Gambetta, in order 
to rouse public opinion in favor of democracy, made several toms 
through the country, his extravagance of language giving deep 
offense to the Monarchists, while the opposed sections of the Assem- 
bly grew wider and more violent in their breach. 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 225 

PUNISHMENT OF THE UNSUCCESSFUL GENERALS 

Indisputable as were the valuable services which Thiers had 
rendered to France, by the foundation of public order and authority, 
the creation of a regular army, and the restoration of a solid financial 
system, yet all these services met with no recognition in the face 
of the party jealousy and political passions prevailing among the 
people's representatives at Versailles. More and more did the 
Royalist reaction gain ground, and, aided by the priests and by 
various national discontents, endeavor to bring about the destruc- 
tion of its opponents. Against the Radicals and Liberals, among 
whom even the Voltairean Thiers was included, superstition and 
fanaticism were let loose, and against the Bonapartists was directed 
the terrorism of courts-martial. 

The French could not rest with the thought that their mili- 
tary supremacy had been broken by the superiority of the Prusso- 
German arms; their defeats could have proceeded only from the 
treachery or incapacity of their leaders. To this national prejudice 
the Government decided to bow, and to offer a sacrifice to the popu- 
lar passion. And thus the world beheld the lamentable spectacle 
of the commanders who had surrendered the French fortresses to 
the enemy being subjected to a trial by court-martial under the 
presidency of Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers, and the majority of 
them, on account of their proved incapacity or weakness, deprived 
of their military honors, at a moment when all had cause to reproach 
themselves and endeavor to raise up a new structure on the ruins 
of the past. Even Ulrich, the once celebrated commander of 
Strasbourg, whose name had been given to a street in Paris, was 
brought under the censure of the court-martial. But the chief 
blow fell upon the commander-in-chief of Metz, Marshal Bazaine, 
to whose "treachery" the whole misfortune of France was attributed. 
For months he was retained a prisoner at Versailles, while prepara- 
tions were made for the great court-martial spectacle, which, in 
the following year, took place under the presidency of the Due 
d'Aumale. 



226 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

MACBIAHON A ROYALIST PRESIDENT 

The result of the party division in the Assembly was, in May, 
1873, a vote of censure on the ministry, which induced them to 
resign. Their resignation was followed by an offer of resignation on 
the part of Thiers, who experienced the unexpected shght of having 
it accepted by the majority of the Assembly, the monarchist Mac- 
Mahon, Marshal of France and Duke of Magenta, being elected 
President in his place. Thiers had just performed one of his greatest 
services to France, by paying off the last instalment of the war 
indemnity and relieving the soil of his country of the hated 
German troops. 

The party now in power at once began to lay plans to carry 
out their cherished purpose of placing a Legitimist king upon the 
throne, this honor being offered to the Count de Chambord, grand- 
son of Charles X. He, an old man, unfitted for the thorny seat 
offered him, and out of all accord with the spirit of the times, put 
a sudden end to the hopes of his partisans by his medieval con- 
servatism. Their purpose was to estabhsh a constitutional govern- 
ment, under the tri-colored flag of revolutionary France; but the 
old Bourbon gave them to understand that he would not consent 
to reign under the Tricolor, but must remain steadfast to the white 
banner of his ancestors; he had no desire to be "the legitimate 
Idng of revolution." 

This letter shattered the plans of his supporters. No man 
with ideas like these would be tolerated on the French throne. 
There was never to be in France a King Henry V. The Monarch- 
ists, in disgust at the failure of their schemes, elected MacMahon 
president of the repubHc for a term of seven years, and for the time 
being the reign of republicanism in France was made secure. 

While MacMahon was thus being raised to the pinnacle of 
honor, his former comrade Bazaine was imprisoned in another part 
of the palace at Versailles, awaiting trial on the charge of treason 
for the surrender of Metz. In the trial, in which the whole world 
took a deep interest, the efforts of the prosecution were directed to 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 227 

prove that the conquest of France was solely due to the treachery 
of the Bouapartist marshal. Despite all that could be said in his 
defense, he was found guilty by the court=martial, ^sentenced to 
degradation from his rank in the army, and to death. 

baeaine's sentence and escape 

A letter which Prince Frederick Charles wrote in his favor 
only added to the wrath of the people, who cried aloud for his exe- 
cution. But, as though the judges themselves felt a twinge of 
conscience at the sentence, they at the same time signed a petition 
for pardon to the president of the repubUc. MacMahon thereupon 
commuted the punishment of death into a twenty years' imprison- 
ment, remitted the disgrace of the f ormaHties of a mihtary degra- 
dation, without canceling its operation, and appointed as the 
prisoner's place of confinement the fortress on the island of St. 
Marguerite, opposite Cannes, known in connection with the "iron 
mask." Bazaine's wealthy Mexican wife obtained permission to 
reside near him, with her family and servants, in a pavilion of the 
sea-fortress. This afforded her an opportunity of bringing about 
the freedom of her husband in the following year with the aid of 
her brother. After an adventurous escape, by letting himself 
down with a rope to a Genoese vessel, Bazaine fled to Holland, and 
then offered his services to the republican government of Spain. 

In 1875 the constitution under which France is now governed 
was adopted by the republicans. It provides for a legislature of 
two chambers; one a chamber of deputies elected by the people, 
the other a senate of 300 members, 75 of whom are elected by the 
National Assembly and the others by electoral colleges in the depart- 
ments of France. The two chambers unite to elect a president, who 
has a term of seven years. He is conmaander-in-chief of the army, 
appoints all officers, receives all ambassadors, executes the lawS) 
and appomts the cabinet, which is responsible to the Senate and 
House of Deputies — thus resembling the cabinet of Great Britain 
instead of that of the United States. 



228 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

This constitution was soon ignored by the arbitrary president, 
who forced the resignation of a cabinet which he could not control, 
and replaced it by another responsible to himseK instead of to the 
Assembly. His act of autocracy roused a violent opposition. 
Gambetta moved that the representatives of the people had no con- 
fidence in a cabinet which was not free in its actions and not repub- 
lican in its principles. The sudden death of Thiers, whose last 
writing was a defense of the republic, stirred the heart of the nation 
and added to the excitement, which soon reached fever heat. In 
the election that followed the repubhcans were in so great a major- 
ity over the conservatives that the president was compelled either 
to resign or to govern according to the constitution. He accepted 
the latter and appointed a cabinet composed of republicans. But 
the acts of the legislature, which passed laws to prevent arbitrarj'^ 
action by the executive and to secularize education, so exasperated 
the old soldier that he finally resigned from his high office. 

gr:6vy, gambetta and boulanger 

Jules Grevy was elected president in his place, and Gambetta 
was made president of the House of Deputies. Subsequently he 
was chosen presiding minister in a cabinet composed wholly of his 
own creatures. His career in this high office was a brief one. The 
Chambers refused to support him in his arbitrary measures and he 
resigned in disgust. Soon after the self-appointed dictator, who had 
played so prominent a part in the war with Germany, died from a 
wound whose origin remained a mystery. 

The constitution was revised in 1884, the republic now declared 
permanent and final, and Grevy again elected president. General 
Boulanger, the minister of war in the new government, succeeded 
in making himself highly popular, many looking upon him as a 
coming Napoleon, by whose genius the republic would be 
overthrown. 

In 1887 Gr^vy resigned, in consequence of a scandal in high 
circles, and was succeeded by Sadi-Carnot, grandson of a famous 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC - 229 

general of the first republic. Under the new president two striking 
events took place. General Boulanger managed to hft himself into 
great prominence, and gain a powerful following in France. Carried 
away by self-esteem, he defied his superiors, and when tried and 
found guilty of the offense, was strong enough in France to overthrow 
the ministry, to gain re-election to the Chamber of Deputies, and 
to defeat a second ministry. 

But his reputation was declining. It received a serious blow 
through a duel he fought with a lawyer, in which the soldier was 
wounded and the lawyer escaped unhurt. The next cabinet was 
hostile to his intrigues, and he fled to Brussels to escape arrest. 
Tried by the Senate, sitting as a High Court of Justice, he was 
found guilty of plotting against the state and sentenced to impris- 
onment for life. His career soon after ended in suicide and his 
party disappeared. 

THE PANAMA CANAL SCANDAL 

The second event spoken of was the Panama Canal affair. 
De Lesseps, the maker of the Suez Canal, had undertaken to exca- 
vate a similar one across the Isthmus of Panama, but the work was 
managed with such wild extravagance that vast sums were spent 
and the poor investors widely ruined, while the canal remained a 
half-dug ditch. At a later date this affair became a great scandal, 
dishonest bargains in connection with it were abundantly unearthed, 
bribery was shown to have been common in high places, and France 
was shaken to its center by the startling exposure. De Lesseps, 
fortunately for him, escaped imprisonment by death, but others 
of the leaders in the enterprise were condemned and punished. 

In the succeeding years perils manifold threatened the existence 
of the French Republic. A moral decline seemed to have sapped the 
foundations of public virtue, and the new military organization 
^ose to a dangerous height of power, becoming a possible instrument 
of ambition which overshadowed and portended evil to the state. 
The spirit of anarchy, which had been so strikingly displayed in the 



230 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

excesses of the Parisian Commune, was shown later in various 
instances of death and destruction by the use of dynamite bombs, 
exploded in Paris and elsewhere. But its most striking example 
was in the murder of President Camot, who was stabbed by an 
anarchist in the streets of Lyons. This assassination, and the dis- 
heartening exposures of dishonesty in the Panama Canal case 
trials, stirred the moral sentiment of France to its depths, and made 
many of the best citizens despair of the pennanency of the republic. 

DESPOTISM OF THE ARMY LEADERS 

But the most alarming threat came from the army, which had 
grown in power and prominence until it fairly overtopped the state, 
while its leaders felt competent to set at defiance the civil authorities. 
This despotic army was an outgrowth of the Franco-Prussian war. 
The terrible punishment which the French had received in that war, 
and in particular the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, filled them with 
bitter hatred of Germany and a burning desire for revenge. Yet 
it was evident that their military organization was so imperfect 
as to leave them helpless before the army of Germany, and the first 
thing to be done was to place themselves on a level in military 
strength with their foe. To this President Thiers had earnestly 
devoted himself, and the work of army organization went on until 
all France was virtually converted into a great camp, defended by 
powerful fortresses, and the whole male population of the country 
were practically made part of the army. 

The final result of this was the development of one of the most 
complete and well-appointed military establishments in Europe. 
The immediate cause of the reorganization of the artoy gradually 
passed away. As time went on the intense feeling against Germany 
softened and the danger of war decreased. But the army became 
more and more dominant in France, and, as the century neared 
its end, the autocratic position of its leaders was revealed by a 
startling event, which was claimed to prove the moral decadence 
of France and the controlHng influence and dominating power 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 231 



/ 



of the members of the General Staff. This was the celebrated 
Dreyfus Case, the cause celebre of the period. At the time con- 
cerned it excited the utmost interest, stirring France to its center, 
and attracting the earnest attention of the world. It aroused indig- 
nation as well as interest, and years passed before it lost its hold on 
public attention. It can be dealt with here only with great brevity. 

THE DKEYFUS CASE 

Albert Dre3rfus, an Alsatian Jew and a captain in the Four- 
teenth Regiment of Artillery of the French army, detailed for ser- 
vice at the Information Bureau of the Minister of War, was arrested 
October 15, 1894, on the charge of having sold miUtary secrets to a 
foreign power. The following letter was said to have been found 
at the German embassy by a French detective, in what was declared 
to be the handwriting of Dreyfus: 

"Having no news from you I do not know what to do. I send 
you in the meantime the condition of the forts. I also hand you 
the principal instructions as to jBring. If you desire the rest I shall 
have them copied. The document is precious. The instructions 
have been given only to the officers of the General Staff. I leave 
for the maneuvers." 

Previous to the arrest of Dreyfus, the editor of the Libre Parole 
had been carrying on a violent anti-semitic agitation in his paper. 
He now raved about the Jews in general, declared Dreyfus guilty of 
selling army secrets to the Germans, and by his crusade turned 
public opinion in Paris strongly against the accused. 

As a result of this assault and the statement that the letter 
was in the handwriting of the accused, he was tried before a military 
court, which sat behind closed doors, kept parts of the indictment 
from the knowledge of the prisoner and his lawyer, and in other 
ways manifested a lack of fairness. 

As a result of this secret trial the accused was found guilty and 
condemned to be degraded from his military rank, and by a special 
act of the Chamber of Deputies was ordered to be imprisoned for 



232 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 

life in a penal settlement on Devil's Island, off the coast of French 
Guiana, a tropical region, desolate and malarious in character. 
The sentence was executed with the most cruel harshness. During 
part of his detention Dreyfus was locked in a hut, surrounded by an 
iron cage, on the island. This was done on the plea of possible 
attempts at rescue. He was allowed to send and receive only such 
letters as had been transcribed by one of his guardians. 

He denied, and never ceased to deny, his guilt. The letters he 
wrote to his counsel after the trial and after his disgrace are most 
pathetic assertions of his innocence, and of th© hope that ultimately 
justice would be done him. His wife and family continued to deny 
his guilt, and used every influence to get his case reopened. 

The whole affair in time excited a strong suspicion that Drey- 
fus had been used as a scapegoat for some one higher up and had been 
unjustly condemned, the fact of his being a Jew being used to excite 
prejudice against him. Many eminent literary men of France 
advocated the revision of a sentence which did not appeal to the 
sense of justice of the best element of France. 

It was declared that military secrets continued to leak out 
after Dreyfus's arrest, and that the handwriting of the letter found 
was closely similar to that of Count Ferdinand Esterhazy, an 
officer >v in the French army, of noble Hungarian descent. This 
matter was so ventilated that some action became necessary and 
Esterhazy was tried secretly by court-martial, the trial ending in 
acquittal. 

At this juncture Emile Zola, the celebrated novelist, stepped 
into the fray as a defender of Dreyfus, writing a notable letter to 
President Faure, in which he accused the members bf the court- 
martial of acquitting Esterhazy under order of their chi^s, who 
would not admit that a military court of France could possibly 
make a mistake. 

This letter led to the arrest and trial of Zola and of the editor 
who published it. Their trials were conducted in a secret manner 
and they were found guilty and sentenced to a heavy fine and a 




A REMARKABLE INCmENT OF THE WAR 

A photograph taken at the Convent of the Sisters of the Poor at Nieuport, where 
a German shell landed, practically demolishing the outer wall. The crucifix imme- 
diately behind was, however, almost unmarked. 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 233 

year's imprisonment. Zola escaped imprisonment by absenting 
himself from France. 

By this time the interest of the whole world was enlisted in the 
case, the action of the French com-ts was everywhere condenmed, 
and in the end it was deemed advisable to bring Dreyfus back to 
France and accord him a new trial. This trial, which lasted from 
August 7 to September 7, 1899, indicated that he had been convicted 
on the most flimsy and uncertain evidence, largely conjectural in 
character, while there was strong evidence in his favor. Yet the 
judges of the court-martial seemed biased against him, and by a 
vote of three judges to two, he was again found guilty — "of treason, 
with extenuating circumstances," as if treason could be extenuated. 

The whole affair was a transparent travesty upon justice, and 
the method by which it was conducted threw into a strong hght 
the faulty character of the French method of trial. The result, 
indeed, was so flagrantly unsatisfactory that no further punishment 
was inflicted upon the accused, and in July, 1906, his case was 
brought before the Court of Appeals, with the result that he was 
acquitted and restored to his rank in the army. 

CHUECH AND STATE 

Later events of interest in French history had to do with the 
status of the Catholic Church in France and with the relations of 
France, Germany and Spain to Morocco, the latter more than once 
threatening war. The union of Church and State in France, which 
had only before been broken during the turbulent period of the 
Revolution, was definitely abrogated by a law of December 19, 
1905, proclaiming the separation of Church and State in that 
country. By this, and a supplementary act in 1907, the Catholic 
Church was put on the same footing in the republic as the Protestant 
and Jewish congregations. The use of church buildings, which had 
been the property of the State since the Revolution, was granted 
only under conditions which the Pope refused to accept, and religious 
liberty made a radical advance in France. 



234 THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 



THE MOROCCO CONTROVERSY 



Meanwhile troubles had arisen on the borders of Algeria 
between the French army of occupation and the unruly Moroccan 
tribes beyond the boundary. The efforts of France to abate these 
disturbances, which found support in the British government, 
aroused opposition in Germany, which objected to the claim of 
France to a predominant interest in Morocco. The affair went 
so far that Emperor WilHam II visited Tangier, had a conference 
with the representatives of the Sultan, and was reported to have 
agreed to enforce the integrity of Morocco. The friction that 
resulted was allayed by a conference of the Powers held at Algeciras, 
Spain, in 1905, and the trouble was temporarily settled by a series 
of resolutions establishing a number of reforms in Morocco, the 
privileged position of France along the Moroccan-Algerian frontier 
being acknowledged. 

Disturbances continued, however, and the murder of a French 
doctor by the tribesmen in March, 1907, led to the occupation of 
a Moroccan town by French troops. Later in the year a more 
serious affair took place at the port of Casablanca, which was 
raided by insurgent tribesmen and European laborers and others 
were massacred. A French force landed on August 7th and a des- 
perate fight took place, during which nearly every inhabitant of 
the town was killed and wounded or had fled, the dead alone 
numbering thousands. 

In 1911 matters in Morocco grew serious, there being severe 
fighting by Spanish troops in the Spanish concession around Alcazar, 
while tribal outbreaks against Fez, the Sultan's capital, brought 
a French mihtary expedition to that point. By this, communica- 
tion between the capital and the coast was established, the French 
government undertaking to organize the Sultan's army and carry 
out certain works of public improvement. 

These movements revived the suspicions of Germany and that 
coimtry took the decisive step of sending a war vessel to Agadir, a 
southern port of Morocco^ with the ostensible purpose of protecting 



THE FRENCH REPUBLIC 235 

the persons and property of German subjects. This act led to the 
suspicion in France that Germany meant more than she said, and 
that her real purpose was to gain a permanent hold on Moroccan 
territory. There was heated talk of warj as there usually is in such 
eases^ but the affair was, in the endj amicably adjusted. 

It became known that France wished to secure a free hand m 
Morocco, outside of the coastal provinces held by Spain, and was 
willing in return to concede to Germany a considerable amount of 
territory in French Congo. The agreement finally reached, with 
the assent of the other Powers, especially Spain, which had a vital 
interest in the problem, was that France should be given a protec- 
torate over Morocco, and in return should cede to Germany a region 
in French Congo, in equatorial Africa, of about 230,000 square 
kilometers, containing a population of from 600,000 to 1,000,000, 
and adjouiing the German district of Kamerun, France retaining 
certain transit privileges in the region. 

Thus ended a source of dispute which had more than once 
threatened war and would have so ended at this time but for the 
vigorous support of France by Great Britain. It ended gxeatly 
to the advantage of France, whose interests in Morocco far out- 
weighed any advantages likely to arise from her holdings in central 
Africa. Behind all this lay the probability that her influence in 
and hold upon Morocco would increase until eventually it would 
develop into a virtual, perhaps an actual, sovereignty over that 
country. 



CHAPTER XV 

Russia in the Field of War 

The Outcome of Slavic Ambition 

Siege of Sebastopol — Russia in Asia — The Russo-Japanese War — Port Arthiu- Taken 
— The Russian Fleet Defeated. 

A MONG the most interesting phases of nineteenth-century 
A-k history is that of the conflict between Russia and Turkey, 
^ "^ a struggle for dominion that came down from the pre- 
ceding centuries, and still seems only temporarily laid aside for 
final settlement in the years to come. In the eighteenth century 
the Turks proved quite able to hold their own against all the 
power of Russia and all the armies of Catharine the Great, and 
they entered the nineteenth century with their ancient dominion 
largely intact. But they were declining in strength while Russia 
was growing, and long before 1900 the empire of the Sultan would 
have become the prey of the Czar had not the other Powers of 
Europe come to the rescue. The Czar Nicholas designated the 
Sultan as the " sick man " of Europe, and such he and his empire 
had truly become. 

Of the various wars which Russia waged against Turkey, the 
first of modern historical importance was that of 1854-55, known as 
the "Crimean War" and made notable by the fact that Britain, 
France and Sardinia joined the Turks in their struggle against the 
Muscovite armies. 

The Western Powers had long been fearful of letting Con- 
stantinople fall into the hands of Russia. They had interfered to 
prevent this after the victory of Russia in 1829, when Adrianople 
was taken and Constantinople threatened. War broke out again 

(236) 



RUSSIA IN THE FIELD OF WAR 237 

in 1853 and Russia seemed likely to triumph. This led Britain and 
France to declare war in 1854. Armies were sent by them to the 
Black Sea, and in September a strong force was landed on the coast 
of the Crimean peninsula. 

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL 

Their purpose in this movement was the capture of the fortress 
©f Sebastopol and the destruction of the Russian fleet in its harbor. 
But the Muscovite defense was vigorous and the stronghold proved 
difficult to take. Battles took place on the banks of the Alma 
and at Balaclava, in both of which the allies were successful, the 
latter being made notable by the heroic British ''Charge of the Light 
Brigada/' which has since been famous in song and story. 

But the fortress held out during the succeeding winter and 
until late in 1855, despite the vigor of the siege. After the middle of 
August the assault became almost incessant, cannon balls dropping 
like an unceasing storm of hail in forts and streets. On the 5th 
of September began a terrific bombardment, continuing day and 
night for three days, and sweeping down more than 5,000 Russians 
on the ramparts. At length, as the hour of noon struck on Septem- 
ber 8th, the attack, of which this play of artillery was the prelude, 
began, the French assaihng the Malakoff, the British the Redan, 
these being the most formidable of the defensive works of the town. 
The French assault was successful and Sebastopol became untenable. 
That night the Russians blew up their remaining forts, sunk their 
ships of war, and marched out of the town, leaving it as the prize 
of victory to the allies. 

This success put an end to the war. Britain, Sardinia, which 
had joined the coahtion, and Turkey were eager to continue it, 
but Napoleon III had reasons of his own for withdrawing his 
troops, and the other allies found it desirable to consent to a treaty 
of peace. Russia was far from being conquered, but its j&nances 
were in a deplorable state, and the Czar proved ready to make 
terms with his enemies. 



238 RUSSIA IN THE FIELD OF WAR 

This did not end Russia's efforts to win Constantinople. A 
new war broke out in 1877, in which n©ne of the Powers came to the 
aid of the Turks, and their dominion in Europe would have been 
brought to an end but for the jealousy of these Powers, which forced 
the conquering Muscovites to withdraw from the hoped-for prize. 
The events of this war are given in the following chapter, as part of 
the history of the Balkan States. 

RUSSIA IN ASIA 

Russia, though so often checked in the effort to capture Con- 
stantinople, and with it win an opening to the Mediterranean, was 
long more successful in another field of ambition, that of Asiatic 
conquest and the expansion of empire over the great Eastern 
continent. Here it had gradually won a vast stretch of territory, 
including the immense area of Siberia and the realms of the Cau- 
casus and Turkestan. The result of the Boxer outbreak in China 
in 1900 increased the Russian dominion in Asia, giving the empire 
a hold upon Manchuria, with control of the fine seaport of Port 
Arthur. It began to appear as if this whole region would become 
Russian territory, possibly including Korea and Japan. 

THE RTJSSO-JAPAN WAR 

The danger of this roused Japan to action. When it became 
evident that the Russians had no intention to respect the rights 
of China in Manchuria, and showed signs of an aggressive move- 
ment against Korea, the island empire lost no time in making war. 
In February, 1904, Japan withdrew her minister from St. Petersburg 
and three days later, without the formality of a declaration of war, 
attacked the Russian fleets at Chemulpo and Port Arthur and 
landed troops in Korea. 

The Japanese quickly proved themselves able warriors. On 
April 13th Admiral Togo drove back the Russian fleet, its flagship, 
the Petropavlovsk, striking a mine and sinking with its crew and 
admiral. On land the Russians were defeated at the battle of the 



RUSSIA IN THE FIELD OF WAR 239 

Yalu, Manchuria was invaded and Port Arthur invested and bom- 
barded. Battles followed in rapid succession, with victory for the 
island warriors in every instance. General Oka won a fierce battle 
on the heights of Nan-Shan and captured the Russian port of Dalny. 
General Kuroki fought his way northward to Liao-yang, where was 
fought one of the great battles of the war, lasting seven days and 
ending in the retreat of the Russians. 

The next field of action was at Mukden, the Manchurian 
capital, when the armies met in September, and remained face 
to face until March of the following year. It was not until 
then that a decisive action took place, the armies numbering 
nearly 500,000 each. The struggle was long continued, but finally 
ended in a second retreat of the Russians. There were no further 
engagements of importance in this quarter, though the armies 
remained face to face for months in a long line south of Harbin. 

PORT ARTHUR TAKEN 

Meanwhile Port Arthur had become closely invested. One by 
one the hills surroimding the harbor were taken by the Japanese, 
after stubborn resistance. Big siege guns were dragged up and 
began to batter the town and the ships. On August 16th, General 
Stoessel, conomander at Fort Arthur, having refused to surrender, 
a grand assault was ordered by Nogi. It proved unsuccessful, 
while the assailants lost 14,000 men. The bombardment continued, 
the buildings and ships suffering severely. Finally tunnels were 
cut through the solid rock and on December 20th the principal 
stronghold in the east was carried by storm. Other forts were 
soon taken and on January 2, 1905, the place was surrendered, the 
Japanese obtaining 40,000 prisoners, 59 forts, about 550 guns, and 
other munitions. The fleet captured consisted of four damaged 
battleships, two damaged cruisers and a considerable number of 
small craft. These ships had been effectually blockaded in the 
harbor, lying practically inactive during the siege. 



240 RUSSIA IN THE FIELD OF WAR 

THE RUSSIAN FLEET DEFEATED 

Russia, finding its naval force in the Pacific put out of com- 
mission through the activity of the doughty Togo, had meanwhile 
despatched another fleet from the Baltic, comprising nearly forty 
vessels in all. These made their way through the Suez Canal and 
the Indian Ocean and on May 27, 1905, entered the Strait of 
Tsushuma, between Korea and Japan. Hitherto not a hostile 
vessel had been seen. Togo had held his fleet in ambush, while 
keeping scouts on the lookout for the coming Russians. 

Suddenly the Russians found themselves surrounded by a 
long line of enemies, which had suddenly appeared in their front. 
The attack was furious and irresistible; the defense weak and 
ineffective. Night was at hand, but before it came five Russian 
warships had gone to the bottom. A torpedo attack was made 
during the night and the general engagement resumed next morning. 
When a halt was called, Admiral Togo had sunk, disabled or cap- 
tured eight battleships, nine cruisers, three coast-defense ships, 
and a large number of other craft, the great Russian fleet being 
practically a total loss, while Togo had lost only three torpedo 
boats and 650 men. The losses in men by the Russians was 4,000 
killed, and 7,200 prisoners taken. It was a naval victory which 
for completeness has rarely been equalled in history. 

Russia, beaten on land and sea, was by this time ready to give 
up the struggle, and readily accepted President Roosevelt's sugges- 
tion to hold a peace convention in the United States. The tenns 
of the treaty were very favorable to Russia, all things considered; 
but the power of Japan had been strained to the utmost, and that 
Power felt little inclined to put obstacles in the way. The island 
of SakhaUn was divided between them, both armies evacuated 
Manchuria, leaving it to the Chinese, and Port Ai'thur and Dalny 
were transferred to Japan. 

Yet though Japan received no indenmity and little in the way 
of material acquisitions of any kind, she came out of the war with 
a prestige that no one was likely to question, and has since ranked 



RUSSIA IN THE FIELD OF WAR 241 

among the great Powers of the world. And she has added con- 
siderably to her territory by the annexation of Korea, in which 
there was no one to question her right. 

Since the events here described Japan has entered the concert 
of the nations by an alliance with Great Britain for mutual defense 
in case of either Power being attacked in the East. And this treaty 
bore fruit in 1914 when Japan, as an ally of Great Britain, took part 
in the war between the great Powers of Europe by attacking Kiao- 
chou, a district and fortress held by Germany on the northern coast 
of China. 

This was in accordance with the Japanese theory of "the 
Orient for the Orientals" and its dislike of European aggression 
upon the Asiatic coast. Japan went farther than this, taking 
possession of all the islands held by Germany in the North Pacific — 
afterwards handed over to Australia for administration — those in 
the South Pacific being at the same time occupied by expeditions 
from New Zealand and Australia. In this way the great European 
war was to a minor extent transferred to the waters and lands of 
the Far East. 



.CHAPTER XVI 

Great Britain and Her Colonies 

How England Became Mistress of the Seas 

Great Britain as a Colonizing Power — Colonies ia the Pacific Region — Colonization 

in Africa — British Colonies in Africa — The Mahdi Rebellion in Egypt — Gordon at 

Kliartoiun — Suppression of the Mahdi Revolt — Colonization ia Asia — The British in 

India — Colonies in America — Development of Canada — Progress in Canada. 

IN the era preceding the nineteenth century Spain, France, and 
Great Britain were the great colonizing Powers, the last 
named being the latest in the field, but rapidly rising to 
bec.onie the most important. 

The active Powers in colonization within the nineteenth 
century were the great rivals of the preceding period, Great Britain 
and France, though the former gained decidedly the start, and its 
colonial empire today surpasses that of any other nation of man- 
kind. It is so enormous, in fact, as to dwarf the parent kingdom, 
which is related to its colonial dominion, so far as comparative 
size is concerned, as the small brain of the elephant is related to 
its great body. 

Other Powers, not heard of as colonizers in the past, have 
since come into this field, though too late to obtain any of the 
great prizes. These are Germany and Italy, the latter having 
recently added to its acquisitions by the conquest of TripoH. But 
there is a great Power still to name, which in its way stands as a 
rival to Great Britain, the empire of Russia, whose acquisitions in 
Asia have grown enormously in extent. These are not colonies in 
the ordinary sense, but rather results of the expansion of an empire 
through warlike aggression. Yet they are colonial in the sense of 
absorbing the excess population of European Russia. The great 
territory of Siberia was gained by Russia before the nineteenth 

(242) 



GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 243 

century, though within recent years the Russian dominion in Asia 
has greatly increased, and has now become enormous, extending 
from the Arctic Ocean to the borders of Afghanistan, Persia and 
the Asiatic empire of Turkey. 

GREAT BRITAIN AS A COLONIZING POWER 

With this preUminary review we may proceed to consider the 
history of colonization within the recent period. And first we 
must take up the results of the colonial enterprise of Great Britain, 
as much the most important of the whole. In addition to Hindu- 
stan, in which the dominion of Great Britain now extends to 
Afghanistan and Thibet in the north, the British acquisitions in 
Asia now include Burmah and the west-coast region of Indo-China, 
with the Straits Settlements in the Malay peninsula, and the 
island of Ceylon, acquired in 1802 from Holland. 

In the eastern seas Great Britain possesses another colony of 
vast dimensions, the continental island of Australia, which, with 
its area of nearly 3,000,000 square miles, is three-fourths the size 
of Europe. The first British settlement was made here in 1788, 
at Port Jackson, the site of the present thriving city of Sydney, 
and a part of the island was maintained as a penal settlement, con- 
victs being sent there up to 1868. It was the discovery of gold in 
1851 to which Australia owed its great progress. The incitement 
of the yellow metal drew the enterprising thither by thousands, until 
the population of the colony is now more than 4,000,000, and 
is still growing at a rapid rate. There are other valuable 
resources besides that of gold. Of its cities, Melbourne, the 
capital of Victoria, with its suburbs, has more than 500,000 popula- 
tion; Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, 600,000, while 
there are other cities of rapid growth. AustraHa is the one impor- 
tant British colony obtained without a war. In its human beings, 
as in its animals generally, it stood at a low level of development, 
and it was taken possession of without a protest from the savage 
inhabitants. 



244 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

COLONIES IN THE PACIFIC EEGION 

The same cannot be said of the inhabitants of New Zealand, 
an important group of islands lying southeast of Australia, which was 
acquired by Great Britain as a colony in 1840. The Maoris, as 
the people of these islands call themselves, are of the bold and 
sturdy Polynesian race, a brave, generous, and warlike people, 
who have given their new lords and masters no little trouble. 
A series of wars with the natives began in 1843 and continued 
until 1869, since which time the colony has enjoyed peace. It can 
have no more trouble with the Maoris, since there are said to be 
very few left. They had vanished before the "white man's face." 
At present this colony is one of the most advanced politically of 
any region on the face of the earth, so far as attention to the interests 
of the masses of the people is concerned, and its laws and reg- 
ulations are interesting experiments for the remainder of the 
world. 

In addition to those great island dominions in the Pacific, 
Great Britain possesses the Fiji Islands, the northern part of Borneo, 
and a large section of the extensive island of Papua or New Guinea, 
the remainder of which is held by Holland and Germany. In addi- 
tion there are various coaling stations on the islands and coasts 
of Asia. In the Mediterranean its possessions are Gibraltar, Malta 
and Cyprus, and in America the great Dominion of Canada, a con- 
siderable number of the islands of the West Indies, and the districts 
of British Honduras and British Guiana. 

The history of colonization in two of the continents, Asia and 
Africa, presents certain features of singularity. Though known 
from the most ancient times, while America was quite unknown 
until four centuries ago, the striking fact presents itself that at an 
early date in the nineteenth century the continents of North and 
South America had been largely explored from coast to center, while 
the interior of Asia and Africa remained in great part unknown. 
This fact in regard to Asia was due to the hostile attitude of its 
people, which rendered it dangerous for any European traveler 



GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 245 

to attempt to penetrate its interior. In the case of Africa it was due 
to the inhospitahty of nature, which had placed the most serious 
obstacles in the way of those who sought to enter it beyond the 
coast regions. This state of affairs continued until the latter half 
of the century, within which period there was a remarkable change 
in the aspect of affairs, both continents being penetrated in all 
directions and their walls of isolation completely broken down. 

COLONIZATION IN AFRICA 

Africa is not only now well known, but the exploration of its 
interior has been followed by political changes of the most revolu- 
tionary character. It presented a virgin field for colonization, of 
which the land-hungry nations of Europe hastened to avail them- 
selves, dividing up the continent between them until, by the end 
of the century, the partition of Africa was practically complete. 
It is one of the most remarkable circumstances in history that a 
well-known continent remained thus so long unexplored to serve 
in our own days as a new field for the outpouring of the nations. 
The occupation of Africa by Europeans, indeed, began earlier. 
The Arabs had held the section north of the Sahara for many cen- 
turies, Portugal claimed — but scarcely occupied — large sections east 
and west, and the Dutch had a thriving settlement in the south. 
But the exploration and division of the bulk of the continent waited 
for the nineteenth century, and the greater part of the work of 
partition took place within the final quarter of that century. 

In this work of colonization Great Britain and France stand 
foremost in energy and success. Today the British possessions and 
protectorates in Africa embrace 2,132,840 square miles; or, if we 
add Egypt and the Egyptian Soudan — ^practically British territory — 
the area occupied or claimed amounts to 2,446,040 square miles. 
The claims of France, including a large area of the Sahara desert, 
are much larger, covering 4,000,000 square miles. Germany lays 
claim to 930,000; Italy, to 591,000; Portugal, to 800,000; Spain, 
to 86,600; the Congo Free State, to 800,000; and Turkey to the 



246 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

363,200 square miles of Egypt. The parts of Africa unoccupied 
or unclaimed by Europeans are a portion of the Desert of Sahara, 
which no one wants; Abyssinia, still independent; Morocco, a 
French protectorate; and Liberia, a state over which rests the 
shadow of protection of the United States. 

BRITISH COLONIES IN APBICA 

Of the British colonial possessions in Africa the most important 
is that in the far south, extending now from Cape Town to Lake 
Tanganyika, and including an immense area replete with natural 
resources and capable of sustaining a very large population. This 
region, originally settled in the Cape Town region by the Dutch, 
was acquired by the British as a result of an European war. Sub- 
sequently the Boers — descendants of the Dutch settlers — made their 
way north, beyond the British jurisdiction, and founded the new 
colonies of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State. 
The British of Cape Town at a later date followed them north, 
settlmg Natal, defeating the Zulu blacks and acquiring new terri- 
tory, and eventually coming into hostile contact with the Boers. 

Defeated at first by the latter, a war of conquest broke out in 
1899, ending in 1902 with the overthrow of the Boer republics, after 
a brave and vigorous resistance on their part. Under the ambitious 
leadership of Cecil Rhodes and others, British dominion in South 
Africa was extended northward over the protectorates of Rhodesia 
and Basutoland, reaching, as stated, as far north as Lake Tanganyika 
and embracing an area of about 1,300,000 square miles. Other 
British colonial possessions in that continent mclude the large 
province of British East Africa, covering 520,000 square miles, 
a large area in Somaliland and possessions on the west coast of 
150,000 square miles area. To these, in a minor sense of possession, 
should be added Egypt, now extending to British East Africa. 

We have mentioned the respective regions held by other 
European nations in Africa, France surpassing Great Britain in 
colonial area though not in population. Among the French African 

22 



GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 247 

possessions are included the great island of Madagascar, lying off 
the east coast of the continent. Mention should be made here of 
the extensive and promising Congo Free State, under the suzerainty 
of Belgium. Covering eight hundred thousand square miles, it 
comprises the populous and richly agricultural center of Africa, 
its vast extension of navigable waters yielding communication 
through its every part. 

The occupation of Africa, at least that part of it which became 
British territory, was not consummated without hostile activities. 
The most recent of these was the long war between the Boer and 
British armies, the final success being a costly and not very profit- 
able triumph of the British arms. Of other hostile relations may 
be mentioned the invasion of Abyssinia by a British army in 1867, 
the suppression of the revolt of Arabi Pasha in 1879, and the series 
of events arising from the Mahdist outbreak in 1880. 

THE MAHDI REBELLION IN EGYPT 

The latter events call for some mention; and need to be pre- 
ceded by a statement of how Britain became dominant in Egypt. 
That country had broken loose in large measure from the rule of 
Turkey during the reign of the able and ambitious Mehemet Ah, 
who was made viceroy in 1840, In 1876 the independence of Egypt 
was much increased, and its rulers were given the title of khedive, 
or king. ■- The powers of the khedives steadily increased, and in 
1874-75 Ismail Pasha greatly extended the Egyptian territory, 
annexing the Soudan as far as Darfur, and finally to the shores of 
the lately discovered Victoria Nyanza. Egypt thus embraced the 
valley of the Nile practically to its source, presenting an aspect 
of immense length and great narrowness. 

Soon after, the finances of the country became so involved that 
they were placed under European control, and the growth of English 
and French influence led to the revolt of Arabi Pasha. This was 
repressed by Great Britain, which bombarded Alexandria and 
defeated the Egyptians, France taking no part. As a result the 



248 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

co-ordinate influence of France ended, and Great Britain was left as 
the practical ruler of Egypt, which position she still maintains. 

In 1880 began an important series of events. A Mohammedan 
prophet arose in the Soudan, claiming to be the Mahdi, a Messiah 
of the Mussulmans. A large body of devoted believers soon gathered 
around him, and he set up an independent sultanate in the desert, 
defeating four Egyptian expeditions sent against him, and cap- 
turing El Obeid, the chief city of Kordofan, which he made his 
capital in 1883. 

The effort to subdue the outbreak proved a long and arduous 
one, and was accomplished only after many years and much loss to 
the British and Egyptian forces. No time was lost in sending an 
army against the fanatical Arabs. This was led by an English 
officer known as Hicks Pasha. He fell into a Mahdist ambush at 
El Obeid, and after a desperate struggle, lasting three days, his 
force was almost completely annihilated, Hicks being the last to die. 
Very few of his men escaped to tell the tale of their defeat. 

Other expeditions of Egyptian troops sent against Osman 
Digna ("Osman the Ugly")? a lieutenant of the Mahdi, similarly 
met with defeat, and the Mahdists invested and besieged the towns 
of Sinkat and Tokar. 

To reheve these towns. Baker Pasha, a daring and able British 
leader, was sent with a force of 3,650 men. Unfortunately, his 
troops were mainly Egyptian, and the result of preceding expeditions 
had inspired these with a more than wholesome fear of the Mah- 
dists. They met a party of the latter, only about 1,200 strong, at 
a point south of Suakim, on the Red Sea. Instantly the Egyptians 
broke into a panic of terror and were surrounded and butchered in 
a frightful slaughter. 

"Inside the square," said an eye-witness, "the state of affairs 
was almost indescribable. Cavalry, infantry, mules, camels, 
falling baggage and dying men were crushed into a struggling, 
surging mass. The Egyptians were shrieking madly, hardly at- 
tempting to run away, but trying to shelter themselves one behind 



'g,- 




GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 249 

another." "The conduct of the Egyptians was simply disgraceful," 
said another officer. "Armed with rifle and bayonet, they allowed 
themselves to be slaughtered, without an effort at self-defense, by 
savages inferior to them in numbers and armed only with spears 
and swords." 

Baker and his staff officers, seeing affairs were hopeless, charged 
the enemy and cut their way through to the shore, but of the total 
force two- thirds were left dead or wounded on the field. Such 
was the "massacre" of El Teb, which was followed four days 
afterwards by the capture of Sinkat and slaughter of its garrison. 

To avenge this butchery. General Graham was sent from Cairo 
with reinforcements of British troops. These advanced upon 
Osman and defeated him in two engagements, the last a crushing 
one, in which the British lost only 200 men, while the Arab loss, 
in killed alone, numbered over 2,000. 

GORDON AT KHARTOUM 

These events took place in 1884 and in the same year General 
Charles Gordon — the famous Chinese Gordon — ascended the Nile 
to Khartoum, to relieve the Egyptian garrison of that city. He 
failed in this, the Arabs of the Soudan flocking to the standard of 
the Mahdi in such multitudes that Khartoum was cut off from all 
communication with the north, leaving Gordon and the garrison 
in a position of dire peril. 

It became necessary to send an expedition for their rehef, 
this being led by Lord Wolseley, the hero of the Zulu and Ashanti 
wars. This advanced in two sections, a desert and a river column. 
Two furious attacks were made by the Mahdists on the desert 
troops, both being repulsed with heavy loss. On reaching the river, 
they proceeded in steamers which Gordon had sent down the Nile 
to meet them. But there was unavoidable delay, and when the 
vicinity of Khartoum was reached, on January 28, 1885, it was 
learned that the town had been taken and Gordon killed two days 
before. All his men, 4,000 in number, were killed with him. 



250 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

SUPPRESSION OF THE MAHDI REVOLT 

After this misfortime the Arabs were left in possession for nearly 
twelve years, no other expedition being sent until 1896, while it was 
not until 1898 that the Anglo-Egyptian forces reached the vicinity of 
Khartoum. They were commanded by General Kitchener, one of 
the ablest of British soldiers. His men were well drilled and very 
different in character from those led by Baker Pasha. They met 
the Arabs at Omdurman, near Khartoum, and gave them a crushing 
defeat, more than 10,000 of them falling, while the British loss was 
only about 200. This ended the Arab resistance and the Soudan 
was restored to Egypt, fourteen years after it had been taken by the 
Mahdi. 

Brief mention of the holdings of other nations in Africa must 
suffice. Germany has large areas in East Africa and Southwest 
Africa, with smaller holdings elsewhere. The possessions of France 
extend from Algeria and Tunis southward over the Sahara and 
the Soudan, with holdings on the east and west coasts. Por- 
tugal has large, feebly held districts in the south-central coast 
region, and Italy holds small districts on the Red Sea and SomaUland 
and the recently acquired Tripoli. Spain's holdings are on the 
coast of Morocco and the Sahara. 

COLONIZATION IN ASIA 

The colonizing enterprise in Asia within recent years has been 
contined to Great Britain, France and Russia, which nations have 
gained large possessions in that great continent. Russia has made 
its way during several centuries of conquest over Siberia and Cen- 
tral Asia, until its immense possessions have encroached upon Persia 
and Afghanistan in the south and China in the east. At present, 
while the dominion of Russia in Europe comprises about 2,000,000 
square miles, that in Asia is more than 6,500,000 square miles, the 
total area of this colossal empire being more than equal in area to 
the entire continent of North America. 

The possessions of other nations in Asia are, aside from small 



GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 251 

holdings on the Chinese coast, in the south of that continent. Hol- 
land has a group of rich islands in the Indian Ocean, Portugal some 
small holdings, and France a large area in Indo-China, gained by 
invasion and conquest. This includes Cambodia, Cochin-China 
and Tonquin, won by hard fighting since 1862. 

Great Britain, in addition to the extensive peninsula of India, 
with the neighboring rich island of Ceylon, has of late years acquired 
the fertile plains of Burmah, now included in its Empire of India, 
the whole covering an area of nearly 2,000,000 square miles. Its 
other Asiatic possessions include Hong Kong, in China; the Straits 
Settlements and other Malay states; Borneo and Sarawak, and 
Aden and Socotra, in Arabia. 

THE BRITISH IN INDIA 

The British control of India began with the founding of commer- 
cial settlements early in the seventeenth century. Areas of land 
were gradually acquired, and rivalry began later between England 
and France for the control of Indian territory. The power of the 
British East India Company in India was largely extended by the 
miUtary operations of the famous Lord Clive, and under Warren 
Hastings, a later governor of ambitious character, received new 
accessions. 

During the nineteenth century many accessions of territory 
were made, the one threat to British dominion in the peninsula 
being the great Sepoy rebellion, or Indian Mutiny, which needed 
all the resources of the Company to overcome. The most impor- 
tant event that succeeded was the taking over the powers of govern- 
ment, so far exercised by the East India Company, and vesting 
them in the Crown, which assumed full control of the now immense 
holdings of the Company. Subsequently came the raising of India 
to the dignity, of an empire, and the adding to the title of Queen 
Victoria the further title of Empress of India. Since that period 
the establishment of British dominion in India has become almost 
complete, extending to the Himalayas in the north, and over 



252 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

Baluchistan in the west and Burmah in the east. As a result 
India, Canada and Australia have become the great trio of semi- 
continental British colonial possessions, India being far the richest 
and most populous of them all. 

COLONIES IN AMERICA 

We have next to deal with the British colonial possessions in 
America, including the great Dominion of Canada and Newfound- 
land, and the minor holdings of British Guiana, British Honduras, 
and the several islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbadoes, the 
Bahamas and the Bermudas. Of these Canada is the only one 
that calls for notice here. 

Occupying the northern section of the western hemisphere lies 
Great Britain's most extended colony, the vast Dominion of Canada, 
which covers an immense area of the earth's surface, surpassing 
that of the United States, and nearly equal to the whole of Europe. 
Its population, however, is not in accordance with its dimensions, 
though of Jate it is growing rapidly, being now over 7,000,000. 
The bleak and inhospitable character of the far northern section of 
its area is likely to debar that region from ever having any other 
than a scanty nomad population, fur animals being its principal 
useful product. It is, however, always unsafe to predict. The 
recent discovery of gold in an arctic country traversed by the 
Klondike River, brought miners by the thousands to that wintry 
realm, and it would be very unwise to declare that the remainder of 
the great northern region contains no treasures for the craving hands 
of man. So far as the fertile regions of Manitoba, Alberta and 
Saskatchewan are concerned, the recent demonstration of their 
great availability as wheat-producing territory has added immensely 
to our conception of the national wealth of Canada, which promises 
to become one of the great wheat-growing regions of the earth. 

First settled by the French in the seventeenth century, this 
country came under British control in 1763, as a result of the great 
struggle between the two active colonizing powers for dominion in 



GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 253 

America. The outcome of this conquest is the fact that Canada, 
like the other colonies of Great Britain, possesses a large ahen popu- 
lation, in this case of French origin. 

DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA 

At the opening of the nineteenth century the population of 
Canada was small, and its resources were only slightly developed. 
Its people did not reach the million mark until about 1840, though 
after that date the tide of immigration flowed thither with consid- 
erable strength and the population grew with some rapidity. In 
1791 the original province of Quebec had h^een divided into Upper 
and Lower Canada, and racial and religious conditions of the next 
fifty years led to severe political conflicts. As a result an act of 
union took place, the provinces being reunited in 1840. 

Upper Canada, at the opening of the eighteenth century, was 
only slightly developed, the country being a vast forest, without 
towns, without roads, and practically shut out from the remainder of 
the world. The sparse population was made up largely of United 
Empire Loyalists — refugees from the successful revolution in the 
Thirteen Colonies. But it began to grow with the new century, 
numbers crossed the Niagara River from the States to the fertile 
lands beyond, immigrants crossed the waters from Great Britain 
and France, Toronto was made the capital city, and the population 
of the province soon rose to 30,000 in number. Lower Canada, 
however, with its old cities of Quebec and Montreal, and its flourish- 
ing settlements along the St. Lawrence River, continued the most 
populous section of the country, though its people were almost 
exclusively of French origin. The strength of the British popula- 
tion lay in the upper province. 

In time the union which existed between the two larger prov-^ 
inces of Canada became unfitted to serve the purposes of the entire 
colony. The maritime provinces began to discuss the question 
of local federation, and it was finally proposed to unite all British 
North America into one general union. This was done in 1867, 



254 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

the British Parliament passing an act wliich created the "Dominion 
of Canada." The new confederation included Ontario (Upper 
Canada), Quebec (Lower Canada), New Brunsmck and Nova 
Scotia. Fom* years later Manitoba and British Columbia were 
included, and Prince Edward Island in 1874. Since then other 
additions ha\e been made. A i^arliament waa formed consisting 
of a Senate of life members appointed by the Crown and an Assembly 
elected by the people. 

Some important questions which have arisen in Canada since 
the dates above given have had largely to do with its relations to 
the United States and its people. One of the most troublesome of 
these was that relating to the productive fisheries on the banks of 
Newfoundland and the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 
For years the problem of the rights of American fishermen in these 
regions excited controversy. Several partial settlements have been 
made and in 1877 the sum of $5,000,000 was awarded to Great 
Britain in payment for the privileges granted to the United States. 
A treaty was signed in 1888 for the settlement of other branches of 
this vexatious question. 

The discovery of gold on the Klondike River in 1896 developed 
another problem, that of the true boundary between Alaska and 
Canada. At first, under the belief that the gold region was in 
Alaska, it brought a rush of American miners to that region. But 
it was soon found that the muiing region was in Canada and the 
mining laws imposed by the Canadian authorities were bitterly 
objected to by the American miners. The question of boundary 
has since been definitely settled by an international tribunal of 
British and American jurists and the present boundary line 
marked out by a scientific commission. 

The industrial development of the Dominion wdthin recent 
years has been great. Agricultiually the development of the fertile 
wheat fields of the middle west is of the most promismg character, 
while railway progress has been highly encouraging. The building 
of the Canadian Pacific Railway was a remarkable enterprise at 



GREAT BRITAIN AJSfD HER COLONIES 255 

the time of its construction. Recently Canada is approaching 
a position of rivahy with the United States in this particular, a 
new transcontinental line, the Grand Trunk Pacific, having been com- 
pleted in 1914, while the Canadian Northern is rapidly progressing. 

PROGRESS IN CANADA 

Railways have spread like a network over the rich agricultural 
territory along the southern border land of the Dominion, from ocean 
to ocean, and are now pushing into the deep forest land and rich 
mineral and agricultural regions of the interior and the northwest, 
their total length in 1914 approaching 30,000 miles. 

These roads have been built largely under different forms of 
government aid, such as land grants, cash subsidies, loans, the 
issue of debentures, and the guarantee of interest on bonds. 

In manufacturing industry almost every branch of production 
is to be found, the progressive enterprise of the people of the 
Dominion being great, and a large proportion of the goods they need 
being made at home. The best evidence of the enterprise of Canada 
in manufacture is shown by the fact that she exports many thousand 
dollars worth of goods annually more than she buys — England 
being her largest customer and the United States second on the Hst. 

Not only is the outside world largely ignorant of the importance 
of Canada, but many of her own people fail to realize the greatness 
of the country they possess. Its area of more than three and one- 
half milHons of square miles — one-sixteenth of the entire land sur- 
face of the earth — ^is great enough to include an immense variety 
of natural conditions and products. This area constitutes forty 
per cent of the far extended British empire, while its richness of soil 
and resources in forest and mineral wealth are as yet almost 
untouched, and its promise of future yield is immense. The dimen- 
sions of the dominion guarantee a great variety of natural attrac- 
tions. There are vast grass-covered plains, thousands of square 
miles of untouched forest lands, multitudes of lakes and rivers, great 
and small, and mountaios of the wildest and grandest character. 



256 GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES 

whose natural beauty equals that of the far-famed Alpiae peaks. 
In fact, the Canadian Pacific Railway is becoming a route of pil- 
grimage for the lovers of the beautiful and subHme, its mountain 
scenery being unrivaled upon the continent. 

In several conditions the people of Canada, while preserving 
the general features of English society, are much more free and 
untrammeled. The class system of Great Britain has gained little 
footing in this new land, where nearly every farmer is the owner 
of the soil which he tills, and the people have a feeling of inde- 
pendence unknown to the agricultural population of European coun- 
tries. There has been great progress also in many social questions. 
The liquor traffic is subject in some Provinces to the local option 
restriction; religious liberty prevails; education is practically free 
and unsectarian; the franchise is enjoyed by all citizens; members 
of parliament are paid for their services; and though the executive 
department of the government is under the control of a governor- 
general appointed by the Crown, the laws of Canada are made by 
its own statesmen, and a state of practical independence prevails. 
Recognizing this, and respecting the liberty-loving spirit of the 
people. Great Britain is chary in interfering with any question of 
Canadian policy, or in any sense attempting to limit the freedom 
of her great transatlantic colony. 




CHAPTER XVII 
The Open Door in China and Japan 

Development of World Power in the East 

Warlike Invasions of China— Commodore Perry and His Treaty— Japan's Rapid 
Progi-ess— Origin of the China-Japan War— The Position of Korea— Li Hung Chang 
and the Empress— How Japan Began War— The Chinese and Japanese Fleets— The 
Battle of the Yalu— Capture of Wei Hai Wei— Europe Invades China— The Boxer 
Outbreak — Russian Designs on Manchuria — Japan Begins War on Russia — The Armies 
Meet — China Becomes a Republic, 

^SIA, the greatest of the continents and the seat of the 
earUest civihzations, yields us the most remarkable phenom- 
enon in the history of mankind. In remote ages, while 
Europe lay plunged in the deepest barbarism, certain sections of 
Asia were marked by surprising activity in thought and progress. 
In three far-separated regions — China, India, and Babylonia — 
and in a fourth on the borders of Asia — Egypt — civiUzation rose 
and flourished for ages, while the savage and the barbarian roamed 
over all other regions of the earth. A still more extraordinary fact 
is, that during the more recent era, that of European civilization, 
Asia rested in the most sluggish conservatism, sleeping while 
Europe and America were actively moving, content with its ancient 
knowledge while the people of the West were piursuing new knowl- 
edge into its most secret lurking places. 

And this conservatism seemed an almost immovable one. 
For a century England has been pouring new thought and new 
enterprise into India, yet the Hindus cling stubbornly to their 
remotely ancient behefs and customs, though they show some 
signs of a political awakening. For half a century Europe has been 
hammering upon the gates of China, but not until recently did 
this sleeping nation show any signs of waking to the fact that the 

(257) 



258 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

world was moving around it. As regards the other early civiliza- 
tions — Babylonia and Egypt — they long ago were utterly swamped 
under the tide of Turkish barbarism and exist only in their ruins. 
Persia, once a great and flourishing empire, likewise sank under 
the flood of Arabian and Turkish invasion, and today seems in 
danger of being swallov/ed up in the tide of Russian and British 
ambition. Such was the Asia upon which the nineteenth century 
dawned, and such it remains in some measure today, though in 
parts of its vast area modern civilization has gained a firm foothold. 
This is especially the case with the island empire of Japan, a 
nation the people of which are closely allied in race to those of China, 
yet who have displa;^d a greater progressiveness and a marked 
readiness to avail themselves of the resources of modern civilization. 
The development of Japan has taken place within a brief period. 
Previous to that time it was as resistant to western influences as 
China continued until a later date. They were both closed nations, 
prohibiting the entrance of modern ideas and peoples, proud of 
their own form of civilization and their own institutions, and sternly 
resolved to keep out the disturbing influences of the restless West. 
As a result, they remained locked against the new civilization until 
after the nineteenth century was well advanced, and China's 
disposition to avail itself of the results of modern invention was not 
manifested until the century was near its end. 

WARLIKE INVASION OF CHINA 

China, with its estimated population of 300,000,000, attained 
to a considerable measure of civilization at a very remote period, 
but until very recently made almost no progress during the Chris- 
tian era, being content to retain its old ideas, methods and insti- 
tutions, which its people looked upon as far superior to those of 
the western nations. Great Britain gained a foothold in China 
as early as the seventeenth century, but the persistent attempt 
to flood the country with the opium of India, in disregard of the 
laws of the land, so angered the emperor that he had the opium 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 259 

of the British stores at Canton, worth $20,090,000, seized and 
destroyed. This led to the "Opium War" of 1840, in which China 
was defeated and was forced in consequence to accept a much 
greater degree of intercourse with the world, five ports being made 
free to the world's commerce and Hong Kong ceded to Great Britain. 
In 1856 an arbitrary act of the Chinese authorities at Canton, in 
forcibly boarding a British vessel in the Canton River, led to a 
new war, in which the French joined the British and the alHes 
gained fresh concessions from China. In 1859 the war was renewed, 
and Peking was occupied by the British and French forces in 1860, 
the emperor's summer palace being destroyed. 

These wars had their effect in largely breaking down the Chinese 
wall of seclusion and opening the empire more fully to foreign 
trade and intercourse, and also in compelling the emperor to receive 
foreign ambassadors at his court in Peking. In this the United 
States was among the most successful of the nations, from the 
fact that it had always maintained friendly relations with China. 
In 1876 a short railroad was laid, and in 1877 a telegraph line was 
estabhshed. During the remainder of the century the telegraph 
service was widely extended, but the building of railroads was 
strongly opposed by the government, and not until the century 
had reached its end did the Chinese awaken to the importance of 
this method of transportation. They did, however, admit steam 
traffic to their rivers, and purchased some powerful ironclad naval 
vessels in Europe. 

COMMODORE PEBRY AND HIS TREATY 

The isolation of Japan was maintained longer than that of 
China, trade with that country being of less importance, and 
foreign nations knowing and caring less about it. The United 
States has the credit of brealdng dov/n its long and stubborn 
seclusion and setting in train the remarkably rapid development 
of the island empire. In 1854 Commodore Perry appeared with 
an American fleet in the bay of Yeddo, and, by a show of force 



260 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

and a determination not to be rebuffed, he induced the author- 
ities to make a treaty of commercial intercourse with the United 
States. Other nations quickly demanded similar privileges, and 
Japan's obstinate resistance to foreign intercourse was at an end. 
The result of this was revolutionary in Japan. For centuries 
the Shogun, or Tycoon, the principal military noble, had been 
dominant in the empire, and the Mikado, the true emperor, rele- 
gated to a position of obscurity. But the entrance of foreigners 
disturbed conditions so greatly — by developing parties for and 
against seclusion — that the Mikado was enabled to regain his 
long-lost power, and in 1868 the ancient form of government was 
restored, the nobles being relegated to their original rank and 
their semi-feudal system overthrown. 

japan's rapid progress 

The Japanese quickly began to show a striking activity in the 
acceptance of the results of western civilization, alike in regard 
to objects of commerce, inventions, and industries, and to political 
organization. The latter advanced so rapidly that in 1889 the 
old despotic government was, by the voluntary act of the emperor, 
set aside and a limited monarchy estabhshed, the country being 
given a constitution and a legislature, with universal suffrage for 
all men over twenty-five. This act is of remarkable interest, it 
being doubtful if history records any similar instance of a monarch 
decreasing his authority without appeal or pressure from his people. 
It indicates a liberal spirit that could hardly have been looked 
for in a nation that had so recently opened its doors. It was, 
however, probably the result of a previous compact with the nobles 
who aided the Mikado to regain his throne. Today, Japan differs 
nttle from the nations of Europe and America in its institutions and 
industries, and from being among the most backward, has taken its 
place among the most advanced nations of the world. 

The Japanese army has been organized upon the European 
system, and armed with the most modern style of weapons, the 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 261 

German method of drill and organization being adopted. Its 
navy consists of about two hundred war vessels, built largely in 
British dockyards and manned by sailors trained under British 
officers. A number of powerful ships are in process of building. 
Railroads have been widely extended; telegraphs run everywhere; 
education is in an advancing stage of development, embracing an 
imperial university at Tokio, and institutions in which foreign 
languages and science are taught; and in a hundred ways Japan 
is progressing at a rate which is one of the greatest marvels of the 
twentieth century. This is particularly notable in view of the 
longer adherence maintained by the neighboring empire of China 
to its old customs, and the slowness with which it yielded to the 
influx of new ideas. • - 

OEIGIN OF THE CHINA-JAPAN WAR 

As a result of this difference in progress between the two nations 
we have to describe a remarkable event, one of the most striking 
evidences that could be given of the practical advantage of modern 
civilization. Near the end of the century war broke out between 
China and Japan, and there was shown to the world the singular 
circumstance of a nation of 40,000,000 people, armed with modern 
implements of war, attacking a nation of 300,000,000 — equally 
brave, but with its army organized on an ancient system — and 
defeating it as quickly and completely as Germany defeated France 
in the Franco-German War. This war, which represents a com- 
pletely new condition of affairs in the continent of Asia, is of 
sufficient interest and importance to speak of at some length. 

Between China and Japan lay the kingdom of Korea, separated 
by rivers from the former and by a strait of the ocean from the 
latter, and claimed as a vassal state by both, yet preserving its 
independence as a state against the pair. Japan invaded this coun- 
try at two different periods in the past, but failed to conquer it. 
China has often invaded it, with the same result. Thus it remained 
practically independent until near the end of the nineteenth 



262 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

century, when the question of predomiaance in it became a cause 
of war between the two rival empires. 

Korea long pursued the same policy as China and Japan, 
locking its ports against foreigners so closely that it became known 
as the Hermit Nation and the Forbidden Land. But it v/as forced 
to give way, like its neighbors. The opening of Korea was due to 
Japan. In 1876 the Japanese did to this secluded Idngdom what 
Commodore Perry had done to Japan twenty-two years before. 
They sent a fleet to Seoul, the Korean capital, and by threat of war 
forced the government to open to trade the port of Fusan. In 
1880 Chemulpo was made an open port. Later on the United 
States sent a fleet there which obtained similar privileges. Soon 
afterwards most of the nations of Europe were admitted to trade, 
and the isolation of the Hermit Nation was at an end. Less than 
ten years had sufficed to break down an isolation which had lasted 
f©r centuries. In less than twenty years after — in the year 1899 — 
an electric trolley railway was put in operation in the streets of 
Seoul — a remarkable evidence of the great change in Korean policy. 

THE POSITION OF KOREA 

Korea was no sooner opened to foreign intercourse than China 
and Japan became rivals for influence in that country — a rivalry 
in which Japan showed itself the more active. The Koreans became 
divided into two factions, a progressive one that favored Japan, 
and a conservative one that favored China. Japanese and Chinese 
soldiers were landed upon its soil, and the Chinese aided their party, 
v/hich was in ascendency among the Koreans, to drive out the 
Japanese troops. War was threatened, but it was averted by a 
treaty in 1885 under which both nations agreed to withdraw their 
troops and to send no officers to drill the Korean soldiers. 

The war, thus for the time averted, came nine years afterwards, 
in consequence of an insurrection in Korea. The people of that 
country were discontented. They were oppressed with taxes and 
by tyranny, and in 1894 the followers of a new religious sect broke 

23 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 263 

out in open revolt. Their numbers rapidly increased until they were 
20,000 strong, and they defeated the government troops, captured 
a provincial city, and put the capital itself in danger. The Min 
(or Chinese) faction was then at the head of affairs in the kingdom 
and called for aid from China, which responded by sending some 
two thousand troops and a number of war vessels to Korea. Japan, 
jealous of any such action on the part of China, responded by sur- 
rounding Seoul with soldiers, several thousands in number. 

Disputes followed. China claimed to be suzerain of Korea 
and Japan denied it. Both parties refused to withdraw their 
troops, and the Japanese, finding that the party in power was acting 
against them, advanced on the capital, drove out the officials, and 
took possession of the palace and the king. A new government, 
made up of the party that favored Japan, was organized, and a 
revolution was accomplished in a day. The new authorities declared 
that the Chinese were intruders and requested the aid of the 
Japanese to expel them. War was close at hand. 

LI HUNG CHANG AND THE EMPRESS 

China was at that time under the leadership of a statesman 
of marked ability, the famous Li Hung Chang, who, from being 
made viceroy of a province in 1870, had risen to be the prime 
minister of the empire. At the head of the empire was a woman, 
the Dowager Empress Tsu Tsi, who had usurped the power of the 
young emperor and ruled the state. It was to these two people 
in power that the war was due. The dowager empress, blindly 
ignorant of the power of the Japanese, decided that these '' insolent 
pigmies" deserved to be chastised. Li, her right-hand man, was of 
the same opinion. At the last moment, indeed, doubts began 
to assail his mind, into which came a dim idea that the army and 
navy of China were not in shape to meet the forces of Japan. But 
the empress Vv^as resolute. Her. sixtieth birthday was at hand 
and she proposed to celebrate it magnificently; and what better 
decorations could, she display than the captured banners of these 



264 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

insolent islanders? So it was decided to present a bold front, and, 
instead of the troops of China being removed, reinforcements were 
sent to the force at Asan. 

HOW JAPAN BEGAN WAR 

There followed a startUng event. On July 25th three Japanese 
men-of-war, cruising in the Yellow Sea, came in sight of a transport 
loaded with Chinese troops and convoyed by two ships of the Chinese 
navy. The Japanese admiral did not know of the seizure of Seoul 
by the land forces, but he took it to be his duty to prevent Chinese 
troops from reaching Korea, so he at once attacked the warships 
of the enemy, with such effect that they were quickly put to flight. 
Then he sent orders to the transport that it should put about and 
follow his ships. 

This the Chinese generals refused to do. They trusted to the 
fact that they were on a chartered British vessel and that the British 
flag flew over their heads. The daring Japanese admiral troubled 
his soul little about this foreign standard, but at once opened fire 
on the transport, and with such effect that in half an hour it went 
to the bottom, carrying with it one thousand men. Only about 
one hundred and seventy escaped. 

On the same day that this terrible act took place on the waters 
of the sea, the Japanese left Seoul en route for Asan. Reaching 
there, they attacked the Chinese in their intrenchments and drove 
them out. Three days afterwards, on August 1, 1894, both 
countries issued declarations of war. 

Of the conflict that followed, the mosjb interesting events were 
those that took place on the waters, the land campaigns being 
an unbroken series of successes for the well-organized and amply- 
armed Japanese troops over the medieval army of China, which 
went to war fan and umbrella in hand, with antiquated weapons 
and obsolete organization. The principal battle was fought at 
Ping Yang on September 15th, the Chinese losing 16,000 killed, 
wounded and captured, while the Japanese loss was trifling. In 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 265 

November the powerful fortress of Port Arthur was attacked by 
army and fleet, and surrendered after a two days' siege. Then the 
armies advanced until they were in the vicinity of the Great Wall, 
with the soil and capital of China not far before them. 

THE CHINESE AND JAPANESE FLEETS 

With this brief review of the land operations, we must return 
to the movements of the fleets. Backward as the Chinese 
were on land, they were not so on the sea. Li Hung Chang, a born 
progressive, had vainly attempted to introduce railroads into China, 
but he had been more successful in regard to ships, and had pur- 
chased a navy more powerful than that of Japan. The heaviest 
ships of Japan were cruisers, whose armor consisted of deck and 
interior lining of steel. The Chinese possessed two powerful battle- 
ships, with 14-inch iron armor and turrets defended with 12-inch 
armor, each carrying fom' 12-inch guns. Both navies had the advan- 
tage of European teaching in di-ill, tactics, and seamanship. The 
Ting Yuen, the Chinese flagship, had as virtual commander an 
experienced German officer named Von Hanneken; the Chen 
Yuen, the other big ironclad, was handled by Commander McGiffen, 
formerly of the United States navy. Thus commanded, it was 
expected in Europe that the superior strength of the Chinese 
ships would ensm*e them an easy victory over those of Japan. The 
event showed that this was a decidedly mistaken view. 

It was the superior speed and the large number of rapid-fire 
guns of the Japanese vessels that saved them from defeat. The 
Chinese guns were mainly heavy Krupps and Armstrongs. They 
had also some machine guns, but only three quick-firers. The 
Japanese, on the contrary, had few heavy armor-piercing guns, 
but were suppUed with a large number of quick-firing cannon, 
capable of poiu-ing out shells in an incessant stream. Admiral 
Ting and his European officers expected to come at once to close 
quarters and quickly destroy the thin-armored Japanese craft. 
But the shrewd Admiral Ito, commander of the fleet of Japan, 



266 THE OPEN DOOE IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

had no intention of being thus dealt with. The speed of his craft 
enabled him to keep Iiis distance and to distract the aim of his foes, 
and he proposed to make the best use of this advantage. Thus 
equipped, the two fleets came together in the month of September, 
and an epoch-making battle in the history of the ancient continent 
of Asia was fought. 

THE BATTLE OP THE YALU 

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 16, 1894, Admiral 
ring's fleet, consisting of 11 warships, 4 g-unboats, and 6 torpedo 
boats, anchored off the mouth of the Yalu River. They were 
there as escorts to some transports, which went up the river to dis- 
charge their troops. Admiral Ito had been engaged in the same 
work farther down the coast, and early on Monday morning came 
steaming towards the Yalu in search of the enemj^. Under him were 
in all twelve ships, none of them with heavy armor, one of them an 
armed transport. The swiftest ship in the fleet v/as the Yoshino, 
capable of making twenty-three knots, and armed with 44 quick- 
firing Armstrongs, which would discharge nearly 4,000 pounds 
weight of shells every minute. The heaviest guns were long 13- 
inch cannon, of which four ships possessed one each, protected by 
12-uich shields of steel. Finally, they had an important advantage 
over the Chinese in being abundantly sux>pned with ammunition. 

With this formidable fleet, Ito steamed slowly to the north- 
westward. Early on Monday morning he was off the island of 
Hai-yun-tao. At 7 a. m. the fleet began steaming north-eastward. 
It was a fine autiunn morning. The sun shone brightly, and there 
was only just enough of a breeze to ripple the surface of the water. 
The long Une of warships cleaving their way through the blue 
waters, all bright with white paint, the chrysanthemum of Japan 
shining like a golden shield on every bow, and the same emblem 
flying in red and white from every masthead, formed a striking 
spectacle. Some miles away to port rose the rocky coast and the 
blue hills of Manchuria; on the other side was the Korean Gulf. 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 267 

Omitting details of the long and uninteresting fight which followed 
it may be said that the most remarkable feature of the battle of 
the Yalu was that it took place between two nations which, had the 
war broken out forty years earlier, would have done their fighting 
with fleets of wooden junks and weapons of the past centuries. 
As an object lesson of the progress of China and Japan in modem 
ideas it is of the greatest interest, though results were drawn. 

CAPTURE OF WEI HAI WEI 

In January, 1895, the Japanese fleet advanced against the 
strongly fortified stronghold of Wei Hai Wei, on the northern coast 
of China. Here a force of 25,000 men was landed successfully, and 
attacked the fort in the rear, quickly capturing its landward defenses. 
The stronghold was thereupon abandoned by its garrison and 
occupied by the Japanese. The Chinese fleet lay in the harbor, 
and surrendered to the Japanese after several ships had been sunk 
by torpedo boats. 

China was now in a perilous position. Its fleet was lost, its 
coast strongholds of Port Ai^thur and Wei Hai Wei were held by 
the enemy, and its capital was threatened from the latter place 
and by the army north of the Great Wall. A continuation of the 
war promised to bring about the complete conquest of the Chinese 
empire, and Li Hung Chang, who had been degraded from his official 
rank in consequence of the disasters to the army, was now restored 
to all his honors and sent to Japan to sue for peace. In the treaty 
obtained China was compelled to acknowledge the independence of 
Korea, to cede to Japan the island of Formosa and the Pescadores 
group, and that part of Manchuria occupied by the Japanese army, 
including Port Arthur, also to pay an indemmty of 300,000,000 taels 
and open seven new treaty ports. This treaty was not fully carried 
out. The Russian, British, and French ministers forced Japan, 
imder threat of war, to give up her claim to the Liao-tung peninsula 
and Port Arthur, which stronghold was soon after obtained, under 
long lease, by the Russians. 



268 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

EUROPE INVADES CHINA 

The story of China during the few remaining years of the cen- 
tury may be briefly told. The evidence of its weakness yielded 
by the war with Japan was quickly taken advantage of by the great 
Powers of Europe, and China was in danger of going to pieces under 
their attacks, which grew so decided and ominous that rumors of a 
partition between these Powers of the most ancient and populous 
empire of the world filled the air. 

In 1898 decided steps in this direction were taken. Russia 
leased from China for ninety-nine years Port Arthur and Talien 
Wan, and took practical possession of Manchuria, through which 
a railroad was built connecting with the Trans-Siberian road, 
while Port Arthur afforded her an ice-free harbor for her Pacific 
fleet. Great Britain, jealous of this movement on the part of 
Russia, forced from the unwilling hands of China the port of Wei 
Hai Wei, and Germany demanded and obtained the cession of a 
port at Kiau Chau, farther down the coast, in retribution for the 
murder of some missionaries. France, not to be outdone by her 
neighbors, gained concessions of territory in the south, adjoining her 
Indo-China possessions, and Italy, last of all, came into the Eastern 
market with a demand for a share of the nearly defunct empire. 

The nations appeared to be settling on China in all directions 
and to be ready to tear the antique commonwealth to pieces between 
them. Within the empire itseh revolutionary changes took place, 
the dowager empress having first deprived the emperor of all power 
and then enforced his abdication. 

Meanwhile one important result came from the war. Li 
Himg Chang and the other progressive statesmen of the empire, 
who had long been convinced that the only hope of China lay in its 
being thrown open to Western science and art, found themselves 
able to carry out their plans, the conservative opposition having seri- 
ously broken down. The result of this was seen in a dozen direc- 
tions. Railroads, long almost - completely forbidden, gained free 
''right of way," and promised in the near future to traverse the 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 269 

countiy far and wide. Steamers ploughed their way for a thousand 
miles up the Yang-tse-Kiang; engineers became busy exploiting the 
coal and iron mines of the Flowery Kingdom; great factories, 
equipped with the best modern machinery, sprang up in the foreign 
settlements; foreign books began to be translated and read; and 
the empress even went so far as to receive foreign ambassadors in 
public audience and on a footing of outward equaUty in the ''for- 
bidden city" of Peking, long the sacredly secluded center of an 
empire locked against the outer world. 

The increase of European interference in China, with indica- 
tions of a possible intention to dismember that ancient empire and 
divide its fragments among the land-hungry nations of the West, 
was viewed in China with dread and indignation, the feeling of 
hostihty extending to the work of the missionaries, who were 
probably viewed by many as agents in the movement of invasion. 

THE BOXER OUTBREAK 

The hostile sentiment thus developed was indicated early in 
1900 by the outbreak of a Chinese secret society known by a name 
signified in EngHsh by the word "Boxers." These ultra-patriots 
organized an anti-missionary crusade in several provinces of North 
China in which many missionaries and native Christians were 
killed. The movement extended from the missionary settlements 
to include the whole foreign movement in China, and was evi- 
dently encouraged by the dowager empress and her advisers. 

As a result the outbreak spread to Peking, where Baron von 
Ketteler, the German minister, was killed, several of the legation 
buildings were destroyed, and more than two hundred refugees 
were besieged within the walls of the British legation. The danger to 
which the ministries and their assistants and families were exposed 
aroused Europe and America, and as the Chinese government 
took no steps to allay the outbreak, a relief expedition was organized, 
in which United States, British, French, German, Russian and 
Japanese forces took part. 



270 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

The fleet of the allies bombarded and destroyed the Taku 
forts, and heavy fighting took place at Tien-tsin, Pie-tsang and- 
Yang-tsun. The military expedition reached Peldng and rescued 
the besieged on August 14, 1906, the empress and her court fleeing 
from the capital. A peace treaty was signed on September 7, 1901, 
one of the conditions of which was that China should pay an indem- 
nity of $320,000,000 to the foreign Powers. The share of this allotted 
to the United States was $24,440,000, but after a portion of this 
had been paid the United States in 1908 remitted $10,800,000, on 
the ground that this was in excess over its actual expense. This 
act of generosity won the earnest gratitude of China. 

This event, significant of the latent and active hostilities 
between the East and the West, was followed by a much greater 
one in 1904-05, when Japan had the hardihood to engage in war 
with the great European empire of Russia and the unlooked-for 
at)ility and good fortune to defeat its powerful antagonist. 

RUSSIAN DESIGNS ON MANCHURIA 

This contest, which takes its place among the great wars of 
modern times, must be dealt with briefly here, as it belongs to 
European history only in the minor sense of a European country 
being engaged in it. It arose from the encroachments of Russia 
in the Chinese province of Manchuria and fears on the part of Japan 
that the scope of Russian designs might include the invasion and 
conquest of that country. 

As already stated, Russia secured a lease of Port Arthur, at 
the southern extremity of Manchuria, from China in 1896. Sub- 
sequently the Siberian Railway was extended southward from 
Harbin to this place, the harbor was deepened, and building opera- 
tions were begun at a new town named Dalny, which was to be 
made Asia's greatest port. The line of the railway was stsongly 
guarded with Russian troops. 

These movements of Russia excited suspicion in Great Britain 
and Japan, which countries so strongly opposed the military occu- 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 271 

pation by Russia of Chinese territory that in 1901 Russia agreed 
to withdraw her troops within the following year, to restore the 
railway to China, and subsequently to give up all occupation of 
Chinese territory. 

Of these agreements only the first was kept, and that only 
temporarily. In 1903 Japan proposed an agreement with Russia 
to the effect that both parties should respect the integrity of China 
and Korea, while the interest of Japan in Korea and that of Russia 
in Manchuria should be recognized. The refusal of Russia to accept 
this proposition overcame the patience of Japan, v/hose rulers saw 
clearly that Russia had no intention of withdrawing from the 
country occupied or of hampering her future purposes with agree- 
ments. In fact Japan's own independence seemed threatened. 

JAPAN BEGINS WAR ON RUSSIA 

The result was in consonance with the Japanese character. In 
February, 1904, Japan withdrew her minister from the capital of 
Russia and three days later, without the formality of a declaration 
of war, attacked the Russian fleets at Chemulpo and Port Arthur. 
The result was the sinking of two Russian ships in Chemulpo 
harbor, and the disabling of a number of vessels at Port Arthur. 

Troops were landed at the same time. Seoul, the capital of 
Korea, was occupied, and an army marched north to Ping- Yang. 
The first land engagement took place on the Yalu on April 30th, 
the Japanese forces under General Kuroki attacking and. defeating 
the Russians at that point, and making a rapid advance into 
Manchuria. 

Meanwhile Admiral Togo had been busy at Port Arthur. 
On April 13th he sent boats in shore to plant mines. Makharov, 
the Russian admiral, followed these boats out until he found Togo 
awaiting him with a fleet too strong for him to attack. On his 
return his flag-ship, the Petropavlovsk, struck one of the mines and 
went down with her crew of 750 and Makharov himself. The 
smaller ships reached harbor in bad shape from their experience ®f 



272 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

Togo's big guns. On August 10th, the Port Harbor fleet was 
again roughly handled by the Japanese, and some daj^s later a 
Vladivostock squadron, steaming southward to reinforce the Port 
Arthur fleet, was met and defeated. This ended the naval war- 
fare for that period, all the ships which Russia had on the Pacific 
being destroyed or seriously injured. 

THE ARMIES MEET 

On land the Japanese made successful movements to the north 
and south. An army under General Oku landed in the Liao-tung 
peninsula early in May, cut the railway to Port Arthur, and cap- 
tured Kin-chau, nearly forty miles from that port. There followed 
a terrible struggle on the heights of Nan-shan, ending in the repulse 
of the Russian garrison, with a loss of eighty guns. This success 
gave the Japanese control of Dalny, which formed for them a new 
base. General Nogi soon after landed with a strong force and took 
command of the operation against Port Arthiu'. 

The northern army met with similar success. General Kuroki 
fighting his way to the vicinity of Liao-yang, where he soon had 
the support of General Nozdu, who had landed an army in May. 
Oku, marching north from the peninsula, also supported him, the 
three generals forcing Kuropatkin, the Russian commander-in-chief, 
back upon his base. Marshal Oyama, a veteran of former wars, 
was made commander-in-chief of the Japanese armies. 

Liao-tung became the seat of one of the greatest battles of the 
war, lasting seven days, the number of dead and wounded being 
over 30,000. It ended in the retreat of Kuropatkin's armyj which, 
fell back upon the line of defenses covering Mukden, the Man- 
churian capital. Here he was again attacked by Kxu-oki, who cap- 
tured the key of the Russian position on the 1st of September, 
and held it until reinforcements arrived. 

For a month the armies faced each, other south of Mukden, 
the resting spell ending in a general advance of the Russian army, 
which had been largely reinforced. In the battle that followed 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 273 

the Russians lost heavily; but failed to break the Japanese lines, and 
after a fortnight of hard fighting both sides desisted from active 
hostilities, holding their positions ^th little change. 

POET ARTHUR TAKEN 

Meanwhile Port Arthur had become closely invested. One 
by one the hills sm-rounding the harbor were taken by the Japanese, 
after stubborn resistance. Big siege guns were dragged up and 
began to batter the town and the ships. On August 16th, General 
Stoessel, commander at Fort Arthur, having refused to surrender, 
a grand assault was ordered by Nogi. It proved unsuccessful, 
while the assailants lost 14,000 men. The bombardment continued, 
the buildings and ships suffering severely. Finally tunnels were 
cut through the soHd rock and on December 20th the principal 
stronghold in the east was carried by storm. Other forts were 
soon taken and on January 2, 1905, the port was surrendered, the 
Japanese obtaining 40,000 prisoners, 59 forts, about 550 guns, and 
other munitions. The fleet captured consisted of four damaged 
battleships, two damaged cruisers and a considerable number of 
smaller craft. 

We left the armies facing each other at Mukden in late Septem- 
ber. They remained there until February, 1905, without again 
coming into contact, and no decisive action took place until March. 
Kuropatkin's force had meanwhile been largely reinforced, through 
the difficult aid of the one-tracked Siberian railway, and was now 
divided into three armies of approximately 150,000 each. Oyama 
had also received large Reinforcements and now had 500,000 men 
under his command. These consisted of the armies under Kuroki, 
Nozdu and Oku, and the force of Nogi released by the capture of 
Port Arthur. 

General Grippenburg had command of one of the Russian 
armies and on January 25th took position on the left bank of the 
Hun River. Here, in the month following, he lost 10,000 of his men, 
and then threw up his post, declaring that his chief had not properly 



274 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

supported him. On January 19th, a Japanese advance in force 
began, attacking with energy and forcing Kuropatkin to withdraw 
his center and left behind the hne of the Hun. Here he fiercely 
attacked Oku and Nogi, for the time checking their advance. But 
Bilderling and Linievitch just then fell into difficulties and it 
became necessary to retreat, leaving Mukden to the enemy. 

There were no further engagements of importance between 
the armies, though they remained face to face for months in a 
long line south of Harbin. Kuropatkin during this time was 
reheved from command, Linievitch being appointed to succeed 
him. The remaining conflict of the war was a naval one, of remark- 
able character. 

RUSSIAN FLEET DEFEATED 

Russia, finding its Pacific fleet put out of commission, and 
quite unable to face the doughty Togo, had despatched a second 
fleet from the Baltic, comprising nearly forty vessels in all. These 
made their way through the Suez Canal and Indian Ocean and 
moved upward through the Chinese and Japanese Seas, finding 
themselves on May 27, 1905, in the strait of Tsushuma, between 
Korea and Japan. Hitherto not a hostile vessel had been seen. 
Togo had held his fleet in ambush, while keeping scouts on the look- 
out for the coming Russians. 

Suddenly the Russians found themselves surrounded by a 
long line of enemies, which had suddenly appeared in their front. 
The attack was furious and irresistible; the defense weak and ineffec- 
tive. Night was at hand, but before it came five Russian warships 
had gone to the bottom. A torpedo attack was made during the 
night and the general engagement resumed next morning. When 
a halt was called. Admiral Togo had sunk, disabled or captured 
eight battleships, nine cruisers, three coast-defense ships, and a 
large number of other craft, the great Russian fleet being practi- 
cally a total loss, while Togo had lost only three torpedo boats and 
650 men. The losses in men by the Russians was 4,000 killed, and 



THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 275 

7,300 prisoners taken. Altogether it was a naval victory which for 
completeness has rarely been equaled in history. 

Russia, beaten on land and sea, was by this time ready to give 
up the struggle, and readily accepted President Roosevelt's sugges- 
tion to hold a peace convention in the United States. The terms 
of the treaty were very favorable to Russia, all things considered; 
but the power of Japan had been strained to the utmost, and that 
Power felt little inclined to put obstacles in the way. The island 
of Sakhalin was divided between them, both . armies evacuated 
Manchuria, leaving it to the Chinese, and Port Arthur and Dalny 
were transferred to Japan. 

Yet though Japan received no indemnity and little in the way 
of material acquisitions of any kind, she came out of the war with 
a prestige that no one was likely to question, and has since ranked 
among the great Powers of the world. And she has added con- 
siderably to her territory by the annexation of Korea, in which 
there was no one to question her right. 

CHINA BECOMES A REPUBLIC 

While Japan was manifesting this progress in the arts of war, 
China was making as great a progress in the arts of peace. The 
building of railroads, telegraphs, modern factories, and other west- 
ern innovations proceeded apace, modern literature and systems 
of education were introduced, and the old competitive examinations 
for office, in the Confucian literature and pliilosophy, were replaced 
by examinations in modern science and general knowledge. Yet 
most surprising of all was the great political revolution which 
converted an autocratic empire which had existed for four or five 
thousand years into a modei'n constitutional republic of advanced 
type. This is the most surprising political overturn that history 
anywhere presents. 

For many years a spirit of opposition to the Manchu rulers 
had existed and had led more than once to rebellions of great scope. 
The success of Japan in war was followed in China by a revolutionary 



276 THE OPEN DOOR IN CHINA AND JAPAN 

movement whose first demand was for a constitutional, government, 
this leading, on September 20, 1907, to an imperial decree outlining 
a plan for a national assembly. On July 22, 1908, another decree 
provided for provincial assemblies to serve as a basis for a future 
parliament. Later the government promised to introduce a par- 
liamentary system within nine years. 

The idea of such a government spread rapidly throughout the 
coimtry, and the demand arose for an immediate parliament. As 
the government resisted this demand, the revolutionary sentiment 
grew, and in October, 1911, a rebellious movement took place at 
Wuchang which rapidly spread, the rebels declaring that the 
Manchu dynasty must be overthrown. 

Soon the movement became so threatening that the emperor 
issued a decree appealing to the mercy of the people, and abjectly 
acknowledging that the government had done wrong in many 
particulars. Yuan Shi-Kai, a prominent revolutionary states- 
man, was made prime minister and a national assembly convened. 
It had become too late, however, to check the movement, and at 
the end of 1911 a new republic was announced at Nanking, under 
the provisional presidency of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, a student of modern 
institutions in Europe and America. The abdication of the empe- 
ror quickly followed, in February 12, 1912, ending a Manchu 
dynasty which had held the throne for 267 years. Yuan Shi-Kai 
was later chosen as president. 

This is a very brief account of the radical revolution that took 
place and we cannot go into the details of what succeeded. It 
must suffice to say that the republic has since persisted, Yuan Shi- 
Kai still serving as president. The repubhc has a parliament of 
its own; a president and cabinet and all the official furniture 
of a republican government. There is only needed an education 
of the people into the principles of free government ''of the people, 
for the people, and by the people" to complete the most remarkable 
political revolution the world has yet known. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

Turkey and the Balkan States 

Checking the Dominion of the Turk in Europe 

The Story of Servia — Turkey in Europe — The Bulgarian Horrors — The Defense of 
Plevna — The Congress of Berlin — Hostile Sentiments in the Balkans — Incitement to 
War — ^Fightiag Begins — The Advance on Adrianople — Servian and Greek Victories — 
The Bulgarian Successes — Steps toward Peace — ^The War Resumed — Siege of Scutari 
— Treaty of Peace — ^War between the Allies — ^The Final Settlement. 

IN the southeast of Europe Hes a group of minor kingdoms, of 
httle importance in size, but of great importance in the prog- 
ress of recent events. Their sudden uprising in 1912, their 
conquest of nearly the whole existing remnant of Turkey in 
Europe, and the subsequent struggle between them for the spoils 
of the conquest brought them swiftly into prominence. And they 
are specially important from the fact that Servia, one of this 
group of states, was the ostensible — ^hardly the actual — cause of 
the great European war of 1914. 

These, known as the Balkan States from their being traversed 
by the Balkan range of mountains, comprise the kingdoms of 
Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and the recent and highly 
artificial kingdom of Albania. Greece is an outlying member 
of the group. 

THE STORY OF SEEVIA 

Of these varied states Servia is of especial interest from its 
immediate relation to the European contest. Its ancient history, 
also, possesses much of interest. Minor in extent at present, it 
was once an extensive empire. Under its monarch, Stephen Dushan 
(1336''56), it included the whole of Macedonia, Albania, Thessaly, 
Bulgaria, and Northern Greece, leaving little of the Balkan region 

(277) 



278 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

beyond its borders. In 1389 its independence ended as a result 
of the battle of Kossova, it becoming tributary to the conquering 
empire of the Turks. In another half century it became a province 
of Turkey in Europe, and so remained for nearly two hundred years. 

Its succeeding history may be rapidly summarized. In 1718 
Austria won the greater part of it, with its capital Belgrade, from 
Turkey, but in 1739 it was regained by the Turks. Barbarous 
treatment of the Christian population of Servia by its half-civilized 
rulers led to a series of insurrections, ending in 1812 in its inde- 
pendence, by the terms of the Treaty of Bukarest. The Turlas 
won it back in 1813, but in 1815, under its leader, Milosh, its com- 
plete independence was attained. 

After the fall of Plevna in the Russo-Tm-kish War of 1877-78, 
Servia joined its forces to those of Russia, and by the Treaty of 
Berlm it obtained an accession of territory and full recognition 
by the Powers of Europe of its independence. In 1885 a national 
rising took place in Eastern Roumelia, a province of Turkey, which 
led to the Turkish governor being expelled and union with Bul- 
garia proclaimed. Servia demanded a share of this new acquisition 
of territory and went to war with Bulgaria, but met with a severe 
defeat. When, in 1908, Austria annexed the former Turkish prov- 
inces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the people of Servia were highly 
indignant, these provinces being largely inhabited by people of 
the Servian race. The exasperation thus caused is of importance, 
especially as augmented by the agency of Austria in preventing 
Servia from obtaining a port on the Adriatic after the Balkan war 
of 1912-13. The seething feeling of enmity thus engendered had 
its final outcome in the assassination of the Austrian Crown Prince 
Ferdinand in 1914, and the subsequent invasion of Servia by the 
armies of Austria. 

We have here spoken of the stages by which Servia gradually 
won its independence from Turkey and its recognition as a full- 
fledged member of the European family of nations. There are 
several others of the Balkan group which similarly won independence 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 279 

from Turkey and to the story of which some passing allusion is 
desirable. 

How Greece won its independence has been already told. 
Another of the group, the diminutive mountain state of Monte- 
negro, much the smallest of them all, has the honor of being the 
only section of that region of Europe that maintained its inde- 
pendence during the long centuries of Turkish domination. Its 
mountainous character enabled its hardy inhabitants to hold 
their own against the Turks in a series of deadly struggles. In 
1876-78 its ruler, Prince Nicholas, joined in the war of Servia and 
Russia against Turkey, the result being that 1,900 square miles 
were added to its territory by the Treaty of Berlin. In 1910 it 
was changed from a principahty into a kingdom. Prince Nicholas 
gaining the title of King Nicholas. A second acquisition of terri- 
tory succeeded the Balkan War of 1913, the adjoining Turkish 
province of Novibazar being divided between it and Servia. 

TURKEY IN EUROPE 

With this summary of the story of the Balkans we shall proceed 
to give in more detail its recent history, comprising the wars of 
1876-78 and of 1912-13. As for the relations between Turkey and 
the Balkan peninsula, it is well known how the Asiatic conquerors 
known as Turks, having subdued Asia Minor, invaded Europe in 
1355, overran most of thte Balkan country, and attacked and took 
Constantinople in 1453. Servia, Bosnia, Albania, and Greece were 
added to the Ottoman Empire, which subdued half of Hungary 
and received its first check on land before the walls of Vienna in 
1529, and on the ocean at the battle of Lepanto in 1571. Vienna was 
again besieged by the Turks in 1683, and was then saved from 
captiu-e by Sobieski of Poland and Charles of Lorraine. 

This was the end of Turkish advance in Europe. Since that 
date it has been gradually yielding to European assault, Russia 
beginning its persistent attacks upon Turkey about the middle of 
the eighteenth century. At that time Turkey occupied a con- 



280 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

siderable section of Southern Russia, but by the end of the century 
much of this had been regained. In 1812 Russia won that part of 
Moldavia and Bessarabia which Hes beyond the Pruth, in 1828 
it gained the principal mouth of the Danube, and in 1829 it crossed 
the Balkans and took Adrianople. The independence of Greece 
was acknowledged the same year. 

The next important event in the history of Turkey in Europe 
was the Crimean War, the story of which has been told in an 
earlier chapter. The chief results of it were a weakening of Russian 
influence in Turkey, the abolition of the Russian protectorate over 
Moldavia and Wallachia (united in 1861 as the principahty of 
Roumania), and the cession to Turkey of part of Bessarabia. 

Turkey also came out of the Crimean War weakened and shorn 
of territory. But the Turldsh idea of government remained un- 
changed, and in twenty years' time Russia was fairly goaded into 
another war. In 1875 Bosnia rebelled in consequence of the 
insufferable oppression of the Turkish tax-collectors. The brave 
Bosnians maintained themselves so sturdily in their mountain 
fastnesses that the Turks almost despaired of subduing them, and 
the Christian subjects of the Sultan in all quarters became so 
stirred up that a general revolt was threatened. 

THE BULGARIAN HORRORS 

:; The Turks undertook to prevent this in their usual fashion. 
Irregular troops were sent into Christian Bulgaria with orders to 
kill all they met. It was an order to the Mohammedan taste. 
The defenseless villages of Bulgaria were entered and their inhab- 
itants slaughtered in cold blood, till thousands of men, women, and 
children had been slain. 

When tidings of these atrocities reached Europe the nations 
were filled with horror. The Sultan made smooth excuses, and 
diplomacy sought to settle the affair, but it became evident that a 
massacre so terrible as this could not be condoned so easily. Dis- 
raeU, then prune minister of Great Britain, sought to minimize 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 281 

these reports so as to avert a great war in which England might be 
plunged. But Gladstone, at that time in retirement, arose, and by 
his pamphlet on the "Bulgarian Horrors" aroused a fierce public 
sentiment in England. His denunciation rang out Hke a tnmapet- 
call. "Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only 
possible manner — ^by carrying off themselves," he wrote. "Their 
Zaptiehs and their Mudirs, their Bimbashis and their Yuzbachis, 
their Kaimakams and their Pashas, one and all, bag and baggage, 
shall, I hope, clear out from the province they have desolated and 
profaned." 

He followed up this pamphlet by a series of speeches, delivered 
to great meetings and to the House of Conunons, with which for 
four years he sought, as he expressed it, "night and day to counter- 
work the purpose of Lord Beaconsfield." He succeeded; England 
was prevented by his eloquence from actively resisting Russia; 
and he excited the fury of the war party to such an extent that at 
one time it was not safe for him to appear in the streets of London. 

Hostilities were soon proclaimed. The Russians, of the same 
race and religious sect as the Bulgarians, were excited beyond con- 
trol, and in April, 1877, Alexander II declared war against Turkey. 
The outrages of the Turks had been so flagrant that no alhes came 
to their aid, while the rottenness of their empire was shown by the 
rapid advance of the Russian armies. They crossed the Danube 
in June. In a month later, they had occupied the principal passes 
of the Balkan mountains and were in position to descend on the 
broad plain that led to Constantinople. But at this point in their 
career they met with a serious check. Osman Pasha, the single 
Turkish commander of abiHty that the war developed, occupied 
the town of Plevna with such forces as he could gather, fortified 
it as strongly as possible, and from its walls defied the Russians. 

THE DEFENSE OF PLEVNA 

The invaders dared not advance and leave this stronghold in 
their rear. For five months all the power of Russia and the skill of 



282 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

its generals were held in check by this brave man and his followers, 
until Europe and America alike looked on with admiration at his 
remarkable defense, in view of which the cause of the war was almost 
forgotten. The Russian general Kriidener was repulsed with the 
loss of 8,000 men. The daring Skobeleff strove in vain to launch 
his troops over Osman's walls. At length General Todleben under- 
took the siege, adopting the slow but safe method of starving out 
the defenders. Osman Pasha now showed his courage, as he had 
already shown his endurance. When hunger and disease began to 
reduce the strength of his men, he resolved on a final desperate 
effort. At the head of his brave garrison the ''Lion of Plevna" 
sallied from the cit3^, and fought with desperate courage to break 
through the circle of his foes. He was finally driven back into the 
city and compelled to surrender. 

Osman had won glory, and his fall was the fall of the Turkish 
cause. The Russians crossed the Balkans, capturing in the Schipka 
Pass a Turkish army of 30,000 men. Adrianople was taken, and 
the Turkish line of retreat cut off. The Russians marched to the 
Bosporus, and the Sultan was compelled to sue for peace to save his 
capital from falling into the hands of the Christians, as it had fallen 
into those of the Turks four centuries before. 

Russia had won the game for which she had made so long a 
struggle. The treaty of San Stefano practically decreed the dissolu- 
tion of the Turldsh Empire. But at this juncture the other nations 
of Europe took part. They were not content to see the balance of 
power destroyed by Russia becoming master of Constantinople, 
and England demanded that the treaty should be revised by the 
European Powers in order to guard her own route to India. Russia 
protested, but Beaconsfield threatened war, and the Czar gave way. 

THE CONGRESS OF BERLIN 

The Congress of Berlin, to which the treaty was referred, 
settled the question in the following manner: Montenegro, Rou- 
mania, and Sei'via were de«lared independent, and Bulgaria became 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 283 

free, except that it had to pay an annual tribute to the Sultan. The 
part of old Bulgaria that lay south of the Balkan Mountains was 
named Eastern RoumeHa and given its own civil government, but 
was left under the military control of Turkey. Bosnia and Herze- 
govina were placed under the control of Austria. All that Russia 
obtained for her victories were some provinces in Asia Minor. 
Turkey was terribly shorn, and since then her power has been 
further reduced, for Eastern Roumelia has broken loose from her 
control and united itself again to Bulgaria. 

Another twenty years passed, and Turkey found itself at war 
again. It was the old story, the oppression of the Christians. This 
time the trouble began in Armenia, a part of Turkey in Asia, where 
in 1895 and 1896 terrible massacres took place. Indignation reigned 
in Europe, but fears of a general war kept the Powers from using 
force, and the Sultan paid no heed to the reforms he had promised 
to make. 

In 1896 the Christians (Greeks) of the island of Crete broke out 
in revolt against the oppression and tyranny of Turldsh rule. Of 
all the Powers of Europe little Greece was the only one that came 
to their aid, and the great nations, still inspired vfith the fear of a 
general war, sent their fleets and threatened Greece with blockade 
unless she would withdraw her troops. 

The result was one scarcely expected. Greece was persistent, 
and gathered a threatening army on the frontier of Turkey, and war 
broke out in 1897 between the two states. The Turks novv^, under 
an able commander, showed much of their ancient valor and 
intrepidity, crossing the frontier, defeating the Greeks in a rapid 
series of engagements, and occupying Thessaly, while the Greek 
army was driven back in a state of utter demoralization. At this 
juncture, when Greece lay at the mercy of Turkey, as Turkey had 
lain at that of Russia twenty years before, the Powers, which 
had refused to aid Greece in her generous but hopeless effort, 
stepped in to save her from ruin. Turkey was bidden to call a halt, 
and the Sultan reluctantly stopped the march of his army. He 



/ 

284 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

demanded the whole of Thessaly and a large indemnity in money. 
The former the Powers refused to grant, and reduced the indemnity 
to a sum within the power of Greece to pay. Thus the affair 
ended, and such was the status of the Eastern Question until the 
hatred of the Balkan States again leaped into flame in the memorable 
Balkan War of 1912. 

HOSTILE SENTIMENTS OF THE BALKANS 

As may be seen from what has been said, the sentiment of 
hostiUty between the Christian States of the Balkan region and the 
Mohammedan empire of Turkey was not likely to be easily allayed. 
The atrocities of persecution which the Christians had suffered at 
the hands of the Turks were unforgotten and unavenged, and to 
them was added an ambitious desire to widen their dominions at 
the expense of Turkey, if possible to drive Turkey completely out 
of Europe and extend their areas of control to the Mediterranean 
and the Bosporus. These states consisted of Servia, made an 
autonomous principality in 1830, an independent principality in 
1878, and a kingdom in 1882; Bulgaria, an autonomous principahty 
in 1878, an independent kingdom in 1908; Roumania, an auton- 
omous principahty in 1802, an independent principahty in 1878, 
a kingdom in 1881; Montenegro, an independent principahty in 
1878, a kingdom in 1910; Eastern Roumeha, autonomous in 1878, 
annexed to Bulgaria in 1885. Adjoining these on the south was 
Greece, an independent kingdom since 1830. The former provinces 
of Bosnia and Herzegovina had been assigned to Austrian adminis- 
trative control in 1878, and annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908, 
an act which added to the feeling of unrest in the Balkan States. 

The relations existing between the Balkan States and their 
neighbors was one of dissatisfaction and hostihty which might at 
any time break into war, this being especially the case with those 
which bordered directly upon Turkey — Servia, Bulgaria, Mon- 
tenegro and Greece. Roumania, being removed from contact, 
had less occasion to entertain warlike sentiments. 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 285 

INCITEMENT TO WAR 

A fitting time for this indignation and hostile feeHng to break 
out into war came in 1912, as a result of the invasion and conquest 
of Tripoli by Italy in 1911-12. This war, settled by a protocol 
in favor of Italy on October 15, 1912, had caused financial losses 
and political unrest in Turkey which offered a promising oppor- 
tunity for the states to carry into effect their long-cherished design. 
They did not act as a unit, the smallest of them, Montenegro, 
declaring war on Turkey on October 8th, and Greece, on October 
17th. In regard to Servia and Bulgaria, Turkey took the initiative, 
declaring war on them October 17, 1912. 

But acts of war did not wait for a formal declaration. On 
October 5th, King Peter of Servia thus explained to the National 
Assembly of that state his reasons for mobihzing his troops: 

"I have appHed with friendly counsels to Constantinople 
regarding the misery which the Christian nationaHties, including 
ours, are suffering in Turkey, and it is to be regretted that all this 
was of no avail. Instead of the expected reforms we were surprised 
a few days ago by the mobihzation of the Turkish army near our 
frontiers. To this act, by which our safety was endangered, Servia 
had only one reply. By my decree our army was put into a mobile 
state. 

"Our position is clear. Our duty is to underta~ke measures 
insuring our safety. It is our duty, in conformity with other 
Christian Balkan States, to do everything in our power to insure 
proper conditions for a real and permanent peace in the Bal- 
kans." 

The first raid into Turkish territory was made by the Bulgarian 
bandit Sandansky, who in 1902 had kidnapped Miss Ellen M. 
Stone, an American missionary, and held her for a ransom of $65,000 
to procure funds for his campaign. At the head of a band of 2,500 
Bulgarians he crossed the frontier and burned the Turkish block- 
house at Oschumava, afterwards occupying a strategic position 
above the Struma River. 



286 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

FIGHTING BEGINS 

The Montenegrin army opened the war on October 9th, by 
attacking a strong Turkish position opposite Podgoritza, Franz 
Peter, the youngest son of King Nicholas, firing the first shot. Bul- 
garia, without waiting to declare war, crossed the frontier on 
October 14th and made a sharp attack on the railway patrols 
between Sofia and Uskut. Sharp fighting at the same time took 
place on the Greek frontier, the Greeks capturing Malurica Pass, 
th-e chief mountain pass leading from Greece to Turkey on the 
northern frontier. As regards the reasons impelling Greece to take 
an active part in the war, it must be remembered that the great 
majority of Greeks still lived under the Turkish flag, while the 
twelve islands in the ^gean Sea seized by Italy during its war with 
Turkey were clamoring to be annexed to Greece instead of being 
returned to Turkey by the treaty of peace between Italy and Turkey. 

Such were the conditions and events existing at the opening 
of the war. It developed with great rapidity, a number of important 
battles being fought, in which the Turks were defeated. The 
military strength of the combined states exceeded that of Turkey, 
and within a month's time they made rapid advances, the goals 
sought by them being Constantinople, Adrianople, Salonica and 
Scutari. 

THE ADVANCE ON ADEIANOPLB 

The most important of the Balkan movements was that of the 
Bulgarian army upon Adrianople, the second to Constantinople 
in importance of Turldsh cities. By October 20th the Bulgarian 
main army had forced the Turks back upon the outward forts of 
this stronghold, while the left wing threatened the important post 
of Kirk-Kilisseh, in Tln-ace, about thirty miles northeast of Adrian- 
ople. This place, regarded as "the Key to Adrianople," was taken 
on the 24th, after a three days' fight, the Turkish forces, said to be 
150,000 strong, retiring in disorder. 

The Bulgarians continued their advance, fighting over a wide 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 287 

semicircular area before Adrianople, upon which city they gradually 
closed, taking some of the outer forts and making their bombard- 
ment felt within the city itself. 

SERVIAN AND GREEK VICTORIES 

While the Bulgarians were making such vigorous advances 
towards the capital of the Turkish empire, their allies were winning 
victories in other quarters. Novibazar, capital of the sanjak of 
the same name, was taken by the Servians on October 23d. Prish- 
tina and other towns and villages of Old Servia were also taken, 
the victors being received by the citizens with open arms of welcome 
and other demonstrations of joy. Tobacco and refreshments were 
pressed upon the soldiers, while the people put all their possessions 
at the disposal of the military authorities. 

The Greeks were also successful, an army under the Crown 
Prince capturing the town of Monastir, which was garrisoned by a 
Turkish force estimated at 40,000. The Montenegrin forces were 
at the same time besieging Scutari, the capture of which they re- 
garded as of high importance as a means of widening the area of 
their narrow kingdom. Other important towns of Old Servia were 
taken, including Kumanova, captured on the 25th, Uskab, captured 
on the 26th, and Istib, 45 miles to the southwest, occupied without 
opposition on the following day. This place, a very strong natural 
position in the mountains, was known as the Adrianople of Mace- 
donia. 

THE BULGARIAN SUCCESSES 

While these movements were taking place in the west, the siege 
of Adrianople was vigorously pushed. It was completely surrounded 
by Bulgarian troops by the 29th, and its commander formally 
summoned to surrender the city. The besiegers, however, had great 
difficulties to overcome, the country around being inundated by 
the rivers Maretza and Arda in consequence of heavy rains. These 
floods at the same time impeded the movements of the Turks. 



288 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

On October 31st, after another three-day fight, the Bulgarians 
achieved the great success of the war, defeating a Tiu-kish army of 
200,000 men. Only a fortnight had passed since Turkey declared 
war. The first week of the campaign closed with the dramatic 
fall of Kirk-Kilesseh, fully revealing for the first time the disorgan- 
ization, bad morale and inefiicient commissariat of the Turkish 
army. Ten days later that army was defeated and routed, within 
fifty miles from Constantinople, forcing it to retreat within the 
capital's line of defenses. 

Apparently Nazim Pasha had been completely outmaneuvered 
by Savoff's generalship. The Bulgarian tm-ning movement along 
the Black Sea coast appears to have been a feint, which induced 
the Turkish commander to throw his main army to the eastward, 
to such effect that the Bulgarian force on this sids had the greatest 
difficulty in holding the Turks in check. 

In fact, the Bulgarians gave way, and thus enabled Nazim 
Pasha to report to Constantinople some success in this direc- 
tion. In the meantime, however, General Savoff hurled his great 
strength against the Turks' weakened left wing, which he crushed 
in at Lule Burgas. The fighting along the whole front, which 
evidently was of the most stubborn and determined character, was 
carried on day and night without intermission, and both sides lost 
heavily. 

The final result was to force the Turks within the defensive 
lines of Tchatalja, the only remaining fortified position protecting 
Constantinople. These lines lie twenty-five miles to the northwest 
of the capital. 

The seat of war between Bulgaria and Turkey, aside from the 
continued siege of Adrianople, was by this success transferred to the 
Tchatalja lines, along which the opposing armies lay stretched 
during the week succeeding the Lule Burgas victory. Here siege 
operations were vigorously prosecuted, but the Turks, though weak- 
ened by an outbreak of cholera in their ranks, succeeded in main- 
taining their position,. 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 289 

STEPS TOWARD PEACE 

Elsewhere victory followed the banners of the alKes. On 
November 8th the important port of Salonica was taken by the 
Greeks, and on the 18th the Servians captured Monastir, the re- 
maining Turkish stronghold in Macedonia. The fighting here was 
desperate, lasting three days, the Turkish losses amounting to about 
20,000 men. In Albania the Montenegrin siege of Scutari con- 
tinued, though so far without success. 

Turkey had now enough of the war. On November 3d she had 
asked a mediation of the Powers, but these replied that she must 
treat directly with the Balkan nations. This caused delay until the 
end of the month, the protocol of an armistice being approved by 
the Turkish cabinet on November 30th, and signed by representa- 
tives of Turkey, Bulgaria, Servia and Montenegro on December 3d. 
Greece refused to sign, but at a later date agreed to take part in a 
conference to meet in London on December 16th. 

This peace conference continued in session until January 6, 
1913, without reaching any conclusions, Turkey refusing to accept 
the Balkan demands that she should yield practically the whole of 
her territory in Europe. At the final session of the conference she 
renounced her claim to the island of Crete, and promised to rectify 
her Thracian frontier, but insisted upon the retention of Adrianople. 
This place, the original capital of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, 
and containing the splendid mosque of Sultan Selim, was highly 
esteemed by the Mohammedans, who clung to it as a sacred city. 

War seemed likely to be resumed, though the European Powers 
strongly suggested to Turkey the advisabihty of yielding on this 
point, and leaving the question of the fate of the ^gean Islands to 
the Powers, which promised also to guard Mussulman interests 
in Adrianople. Finally, on January 22d, the Porte consented to 
this request of the Powers, a decision which was vigorously resented 
by the warlike party known as Young Turks. 

Demonstrations at once broke out in Constantinople, leading 
to the overthrow of the cabinet and the murder of Nazim Pasha, 

2S 



290 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

former minister of war and commander-in-chief of the Turkish 
army. He was succeeded by Enver Bey, the most spirited leader 
of the Young Turks, who became chief of staff of the army. 

On January 30th the Balkan allies denounced their armistice 
and a renewed war seemed imminent. On the same day the Otto- 
man government offered a compromise, agreeing to divide Adrianople 
between the contestants in such a way that they might retain 
the mosques and the historic monuments. As for the ^gean Islands, 
they would leave these to the disposition of the Powers. 

THE WAR RESUMED 

To this compromise the Balkan allies refused to agree and on 
February 3d hostile operations were resumed. The investment 
of Adrianople had remained intact during the interval, and on the 
4th a vigorous bombardment took place, the Turkish response 
being weak. Forty Servian seven-inch guns had been mounted, 
their shells falling into the town, part of which again broke into 
flames. At points the hnes of besiegers and besieged were only 
200 yards apart. An attempt was made also to capture the penin- 
sula of Gallipoli, which conoimands the Dardanelles, and thus take 
the Turkish force in the rear. Fifty thousand Bulgarians had been 
landed on this coast in November, and the Greek fleet in the Gulf 
of Sai^os supported the attack. If successful, there v/ould be 
nothing to prevent this fleet from passing the straits, defeating 
the inferior Turldsh war vessels and attacking Constantinople 
from the rear. Fighting in this region continued for several days, 
the Turkish forces being driven back, but still holding their forts. 

SIEGE OF SCUTARI 

In the west the most important operation at this period was 
that of the Montenegrins, led by King Nicholas in person, against 
Scutari, an Albanian stronghold which they were eager to possess. 
Servian artillery aided in the assault, and on February 8th the 
important outwork on Muselim Hill was taken by an impulsive 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 291 

bayonet charge. The city was not captured, however, until April 
2Sd, when an entire day's ceaseless fighting ended in the yielding of 
the garrison, the climax of a six-month siege. 

An energetic attack had been made by the Bulgarians and 
Serbs on Adrianople on March 14th, ending in a repulse, and on the 
22d another vigorous assault was begun, continuing with terrific 
fighting for four days. It ended in a surrender of the city on the 
26th. The siege had continued for 152 days. Before yielding 
the Turks blew up the arsenal and set fire to the city at several 
points. At the same time Tchatalja, which had been actively 
assailed, fell into the hands of the allies and Constantinople lay 
open to assault. 

Meanwhile the Powers of Europe had again offered their good 
services to mediate between the warring forces, and a conditional 
mediation was agreed to by the Balkan allies. Movements towards 
peace, however, proceeded slowly, the most interesting event of 
the period being a demand by Austria, backed by Italy, that 
Montenegro should give up the city of Scutari. Earnest protests 
were made against this by King Nicholas, but the despatch of an 
Austrian naval division on April 27th to occupy his ports and 
m_arch upon Cettinje, his capital, obliged him reluctantly to yield 
and on May 5th Scutari was given up to Austria, to form part of a 
projected Albanian kingdom. 

TREATY OF PEACE 

Peace between the warring nations was finally concluded on 
May 30, 1913, the treaty providing that Turkey should cede to her 
alHed foes all territory west of a line drawn from Enos on the ^Egean 
coast to Media on the coast of the Black Sea. This left Adrianople 
in the hands of the Bulgarians and gave Turkey only a narrow strip 
of territory west of Constantinople, the meager remnant of her once 
great holdings upon the continent of Europe. The victors desired 
to divide the conquered territory upon a plan arranged between 
them before the war, but the purposes of Austria and Italy were 



292 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

out of agreement with this design and the Powers insisted in forming 
out of the districts assigned to Servia and Greece a new principaUty 
to be named Albania, embracing the region occupied by the 
unruly Albanian tribes. 

This plan gave intense dissatisfaction to the alhes. It seemed 
designed to cut off Servia from an opening upon the Mediterranean, 
which that inland state ardently desired and Austria strongly 
opposed. Montenegro was also deprived of the warmly craved 
city of Scutari, which she had won after so vigorous a strife. Bul- 
garia also was dissatisfied with this new project and opposed the 
demands of Servia and Greece for compensation in land for the loss 
of Albaliia or for their support of the Bulgarian operations. 

WAR BETWEEN THE ALLIES 

Thus the result of this creation of a new and needless state 
out of the conquered territory by the peace-making Powers roused 
hostilities among the aUies which speedily flung them into a new war. 
Bulgaria refused to yield any of the territory held by it to the Ser- 
vians and Greeks, and Greece in consequence made a secret league 
with Servia against Bulgaria. 

It was the old story of a fight over the division of the spoils. 
It is doubtful which of the contestants began hostile operations, 
but Bulgaria lost no time in marching upon Salonica, held by 
Greece, and in attacking the Greek and Servian outposts in Mace- 
donia. The plans of General Savoff, who had led the Bulgarians 
to victory in the late war and who commanded in this new outbreak, 
in some way fell into the hands of the Greeks and gave them an 
important advantage. They at once, in junction with the Servians, 
attacked the Bulgarians and drove them back. From the accounts 
of the war, probably exaggerated, this struggle was accompanied 
by revolting barbarities upon the inhabitants of the country invaded, 
each country accusing the other of shameful indignities. 

What would have been the result of the war, if fought out 
between the original contestants, it is impossible to say, for at 



TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 293 

this juncture a new Balkan State, which had taken no part in the 
Turkish war, came into the field. This was Roumania, lying north 
of Bulgaria and removed from any contact with Turkey. It had 
had a quarrel with Bulgaria, dating back to 1878, concerning certain 
territory to which it laid claim. This was a strip of land on the 
south side of the Danube near its mouth and containing Silistria 
and some other cities. 

THE FINAL SETTLEMENT 

King Charles of Roumania now took the opportunity to demand 
this territory, and when his demand was refused by Ferdinand of 
Bulgaria he marched an army across the Danube and took the 
Bulgarians, exhausted by their recent struggle, in the rear. No 
battles were fought. The Roumanian army advanced until within 
thirty miles of Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, and Ferdinand was 
obliged to appeal for peace, and in the subsequent treaty yielded 
to Roumania the tract desired, which served to round out its 
frontier on the Black Sea. 

Another imexpected event took place. While her late foes 
were strugghng in a war of their own, Turkey quietly stepped into 
the arena, and on July 20th retook possession, without opposition, 
of Adrianople, Bulgaria's great prize in the late war. 

A peace conference was held at Bukarest, capital of Roumania, 
beginning July 30th, and framing a treaty, signed on August 10th. 
This provided for the evacuation of Bulgaria by the invading 
armies, and also for a division of the conquered territory. 
Bulgaria gained the largest amount of territory, though less than 
she had claimed. Greece retained the important seaport of Salonica, 
the possession of which had been hotly disputed, and gained the 
largest sea front. Montenegro, though deprived of the much- 
coveted Scutari, was assigned part of northern Albania and the 
Turkish sanjak of Novibazar, adjoining on the east, considerably 
increasing her diminutive territory. 

Servia had most reason to be dissatisfied with the result, in 



294 TURKEY AND THE BALKAN STATES 

view of her craving for an opening to the sea. Cut off by Albania 
on the west; it sought an opening on the south, demanding the cit}'- 
of Kavala, on the ^Egean Sea. But to this Greece strongly objected, 
as that city, one of the great tobacco marts of the world, was 
inhabited almost wholly by Greeks. Servia, however, extended 
southward far over its old territory, gaining Uskub, its old capital. 
And the Powers also agreed that it should have commercial rights 
on the Mediterranean, through railroad connection with Salonica. 

As regards Turkey's shrewd advantage of the opportunity to 
retake Adrianople, it proved a successful move. The Russian press 
strongly advocated that the Turks should be ejected, but the 
jealousy of the Powers prevented any agreement as to who should 
do this and in the end the Turks remained, with a considerable 
widening of the tract of land before assigned to them. 

In these wars it is estimated that 358,000 persons died, and that 
the cost of the two wars, to the several nations involved, reached 
a total of $1,200,000,000. Its general result was almost to complete 
the work of expelling the Turks from Europe, the territory lost by 
them being divided up between the several Balkan nations. 




CHAPTER XIX 
Methods in Modern Warfare 

Ancient and Modern Weapons — New Types of Weapons — The Ironclad War- 
ship — The Balloon in War — Tennyson's Foresight — Gunning for Airships — The 
Submarine — Under-water Warfare — The New Type of Battleship — Mobilization — 

The Waste of War. 

NE hundred years ago the Battle of Waterloo had just been 
fought and Napoleon's star had set never to rise again. 
For 3^ears he had swept Europe with his armies, rending 
the nations into fragments, and winning world-famous victories 
with weapons that no one would look for today except in a mili- 
tary museum, weapons antiquated beyond all possible utility on a 
modern field of battle. 

ANCIENT AND MODERN WEAPONS 

Every fresh modern war has been fought with new weapons, 
and during the past century there have been countless inventions 
for the carrying on of warfare in a more destructive manner, 
apparently on the philanthropic theory that war should be made 
so terrible that it must quickly pass away. 

But it has happened that as soon as a particularly horrible 
contrivance was invented and introduced into armies and navies, 
other inventors immediately set themselves to offset and discount its 
probable effect. Consequently war not only has not passed away, 
but we have it with us in more frightful form than ever before. 
Thus it is that each big war, after being heralded as the world's 
last conflagration, has proved but the herald of another war, bigger 
and more death-dealing still. 

Since the Civil War in the United States, in which probably 
more new features in modes of fighting were introduced than in 

(2U5) 



296 METHODS IN MODERN WARFARE 

any conflict that had preceded it, there have been immense improve- 
ments in arms, in armament and in the general efficiency of both 
armies and navies. It was the Civil War that brought into being 
the turreted Monitor, one of the greatest contributions to naval 
architecture the navies of the world had then known. While the 
turrets on the modern battleship are very different in design, in 
armor and in arrangement from those on the old monitors, they 
are nothing more than an adaptation of the original devices. 

The same is the case with the small arms and the field guns of 
the modem armies, these having been greatly improved since the 
period of the Civil War. The breech-loading and even the magazine 
rifle are now in use in every army, while the smallest field piece of 
today is almost as efficient as the most powerful gun in use fifty 
years ago. 

The first attempt to use a torpedo boat dates back to the 
Civil War. A primitive contrivance it was, but it showed a possi- 
bility in naval warfare which speedily led to the general building of 
torpedo boats, and to the invention of the highly efficient White- 
head torpedo. 

THE IRONCLAD WARSHIP 

Another lesson in warfare was taught when the ironclad 
Merrimac and Monitor met and fought for mastery in Hampton 
Roads. The ironclad vessel was not then a new idea in naval 
architecture, but its efficiency as a fighting machine was then first 
demonstrated. Iron for armor soon gave way to thick and tough 
steel, while each improvement in armor led to a corresponding 
improvement in guns and projectiles, until now a battle at sea has 
grown to be a remarkably different affair from the great ocean 
combats of Nelson's time. 

But development in the art of war has not ceased with the 
improvement in older types of weapons. New devices, scarcely 
thought of in former wars, have been introduced. These include 
the use of the balloon and aeroplane as scouting devices, of the 



METHODS LSr MODERN WARFARE 297 

bomb filled with explosives of frightful rending power, and of the 
submarine naval shark, designed to attack the mighty battleships 
from under water. 

THE BALLOON IN WAE 

Of recent years the balloon has been developed into the dirigible, 
the flying machine that can be steered and directed. Made effec- 
tive by Count Zeppelin and others, its possibilities as an aid in 
war were quickly perceived. Then came the notable invention of 
the Wright Brothers, and after 1904 the aeroplane quickly ex- 
panded into an effective aerial instrument, the probable service- 
ableness of which in war was evident to all. Here we are tempted 
to stop and quote the remarkable prediction from Tennyson's 
"Locksley Hall," the truth of which is now being so strikingly 
verified: 

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, 
Saw the vision of the world and aU the wonder that would be; 
Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, 
Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales; 
Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew 
From the nations* airy navies grappling in the central blue; 
Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm. 
With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thxmder storm; 
Till the war drum throbbed no longer, and the battle flags were furled 
In the parliament of man, the federation of the world." 

GUNNING FOR AIRSHIPS 

The airship does not float safely in the central blue, aside from 
attacks by flying foes. Guns pointing upward have been devised 
to attack the daring aviator from the ground and flying machines 
can thus be swiftly brought down, like war eagles shot in the 
sky. Several types of guns for this purpose are in use, som"^ to be 
employed on warships or fortifications, others, mounted on auto- 
mobile trucks, for use in the field. 

The Ehrhardt gun, a German weapon, which is designed to be 
mounted on an auto-truck, weighs nearly 1700 pounds. The car 



298 METHODS IN MODEHN WARFARE 

carries 140 rounds of ammunition and the whole equipment in 
service condition weighs more than six tons. The gun has an 
extreme range at 45 degrees elevation of 12,029 yards, or more than 
six miles. The sights are telescopic, a moving object can be followed 
with ease, and the gun is capable of being fired very rapidly. The 
British are provided with the Vickers gun, which is mainly intended 
for naval use, but the military arm is also provided with anti- 
balloon guns, which have great range and can throw a three-pound 
shell at any high angle. Some of these guns use incendiary shells, 
intended to ignite the gas in dirigibles. There is another type that 
explodes shrapnel. In addition to these, rifle fire is apt to be effec- 
tive, in case of airships coming within its range. 

Jules Vedrines, a well-known French aviator, tells this story 
of his experience while doing scout duty for the French army: 

"Those German gunners surely have tried their best to get 
me," he wrote. "Each night when I come back to headquarters 
my machine looks more and more like a sieve because of the 
numerous bullet holes in the wings. 

"I have been keeping tab on the number of new bullet holes 
in my machine each day, m.arking each with red chalk, so that I 
won't include any of the old ones in the next day's count. My best 
record so far for one day is thirty-seven holes. That shows how 
close the enemy has come to hitting me. My duties as scout 
require me to cover various distances each day. The best record 
so far in one day is 600 miles." 

THE SUBMAKINE^^ 

The submarine is another type of war apparatus, one the utilitj- 
of which promises to be very great. It is of recent origin. At 
the time of the Spanish-American War there were only five sub- 
marines in all the navies of the world, and of this number three were 
in the French navy, one in Italy and one in Portugal. The United 
States was building its first one, and had not decided what type to 
select. At the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War Great Britain 



METHODS IN MODERN WARFARE 299 

had nine of the American (Holland) type of submarines and was 
building twenty more, while France had accumulated thirty-six 
of various types and of various grades of reported efficiency, while 
Germany had none. In 1914 there were nearly four hundred 
vessels of this type in the world's navies, France standing first with 
173. 

It was believed that the moral effect of the submarine would 
be almost as important as its physical effect in dealing with an 
enemy's warship, and this idea has been justified. Some persons 
maintained that fights of submarines with each other might take 
place, each, like the Kilkenny cats, devouring the other. But the 
fact is that when submerged the submarine is as blind as the tradi- 
tional bat. Its crew cannot see any object under water, and is 
compelled to resort to the use of the periscope, which emerges 
unostentatiously above the water, in order to see its own course. 

It is known that the periscope is the eye of the submarine, 
and naturally attention has been paid to the best way of destroying 
this vital part of such boats. Recently, grappling irons have been 
devised for use from dirigibles, which are expected to drag out 
the periscope as the dirigible flies above it. Careful plans for 
torpedoing submarines also have been made, but their effectiveness 
likewise remains to be demonstrated. 

Submarine builders have naturally held the view that the 
submerged boat could not be seen. But it has been discovered that 
from a certain height an observer may trace the course of a sub- 
merged submarine with as great accuracy as if it were running on the 
surface. It is found that the submerged boat can readily be seen 
from the dirigible and the aeroplane. On the other hand an anti- 
balloon gun has been devised which can be raised from the submarine 
when it comes to the surface, and used against the hostile airship. 

UNDEE-WATER WAEFAEE 

The submarine is supposed to have its most important field 
of, ^operation against a fleet of battleships and cruisers besieging 



300 METHODS IN MODERN WARFARE 

a seaport city. These great war craft, covered above the water- 
line with thick steel armor, are vulnerable below, and a torpedo 
discharged from a torpedo boat or an explosive bomb attached to 
the lower hull by a submarine may send the largest and mightiest 
ship to the bottom, stung to death from below. 

With this idea in view torpedo boats, destroyers — designed to 
attack torpedo boats — and submarines have been multiplied in mod- 
ern navies. We have just begun to appreciate the effectiveness of 
this type of vessels. Their possibilities are enormous and their latent 
power renders the bombardment from sea of town or fort a far more 
perilous operation than of old. Fired at by the great guns of the 
fort capable of effective work at eight or ten miles distance, exposed 
to explosive bombs dropped from soaring airships, made a target 
for the deadly weapon of the torpedo boat, and in constant risk of 
being stung by the submarine wasp, these great war ships, built at a 
cost of ten or more millions and peopled by hundreds of mariners, 
are in constant danger of being sent to the bottom with all on board 
— ^a contingency likely to shake the nerves of the steadiest Jack Tar 
or admiral on board. 

A typical submarine has a length of about 150 feet and diameter 
of 15 feet, with a speed of eleven knots on the surface and five knots 
when submerged. Some of the more recent have a radius of naviga- 
tion of 4,500 miles without need of a new supply of stores and fuel. 
On the surface they are propelled by gasoline engines, but when 
submerged they use electric motors driven by storage batteries. 
If the weather should grow too rough they can sink below the waves. 

THE NEW TYPE OF BATTLESHIP 

While the peril of the big ship has thus been increased, the size 
and fighting capacity of those ships have steadily grown — and at 
the same time their cost, which is becoming almost prohibitive. 
Taking the British navy, the leader in this field, the size of battle- 
ships was yearly augmented until in 1907 the famous Dread- 
naught appeared, looked upon at the time as the last word in naval 



METHODS IN MODERN WARFARE 301 

architecture. This great ship was of 17,900 tons displacement and 
23,000 horse-power, its armor belt eleven inches thick, its major 
armament composed of ten twelve-inch guns. There are now twenty 
British battleships of larger size, some much larger. 

- On shore a similar increase may be seen in the size and effec- 
tiveness of armies and the strength of fortifications. In all the 
larger nations of Europe except Great Britain the whole able-bodied 
male population are now obliged to spend several years in the army, 
and to be ready at a moment's notice to drop all the avocations of 
peace and march to the front, ready to risk their lives in their 
country's service or at the command of the autocrat under whom 
they live. 

MOBILIZATION 

MobiHzation is a word with strenuous significance. When 
it is put into effect every able-bodied man must report without 
delay for service. His name is on the army Hsts; if he fails to 
report he is branded as a deserter. In Germany, the order to 
mobilize is issued by the Emperor and is immediately sent out by all 
mihtary and civil authorities, at home or abroad. Every person 
knows at once what he is required to do. Skeleton regiments 
are filled out and additional regiments formed. Simultaneously 
there is a levy of horses. The order reaches into every household; 
into the factories, ^he shipyards, the hotels, the farms, river boats, 
everywhere. Almost instantly the male individuals within the 
prescribed ages must at once report to the barracks to come under 
mihtary discipline. Infantry, cavalry and artillery units double 
and triple at once. 

This is the first step in mobihzation. The second is the trans- 
portation and concentration of forces. The railways are seized, 
the telegraph and telephone systems. Mail, mihtary, aerial and 
railway services are assigned. The commissary lines are laid and 
transportation provided for. With marvelous efficiency the full 
fighting strength, in front and rear, is made ready and co-ordinated. 



302 METHODS IN AiODERN WARFARE^ 

The psychological effect of mobiHzation is tremendous. In 
every household home- ties are broken. The fields are stripped of 
men. Industry stops. Artillery rolls through the streets^ bands 
play. An atmosphere of apprehension settles down on the country. 

THE WASTE OF WAR 

And the waste of it all; the criminal, unbelievable waste! 
Consider the vast loss of products that is due, not only to actual 
war, but to unceasing and universal preparation for war. 

It has been stated on the highest autiiority that during the last 
decade forty per cent of the total outlay of European states has been 
absorbed by the armies and navies which, when war arises, seek in 
every way to destroy as much as they can of the remainder. Com- 
menting on this state of affairs, Count Sergius Witte, the ablest 
of Russian statesmen and financiers, said in London not long ago: 

'^ Sketch a picture in your mind's eye of all that those sums, if 
properly spent, could effect for the nations who now waste them on 
heavy guns, rifles, dreadnaughts, fortresses and barracks. If this 
money were laid out on improving the material lot of the people^ 
in housing them hygienically, in procuring for them healthier air, 
medical aid and needful periodical rest, they would live longer and 
work to better purpose, and enjoy some of the happiness or content- 
ment which at present is the prerogative of the few. 

'^ Again, all the best brain work of the most eminent men is 
focused on efforts to create new lethal weapons, or to make the old 
ones more deadly. For one of the arts in which cultured nations 
have made most progress is warfare. The noblest efforts of the 
greatest thinkers are wasted on inventions to destroy human hfe. 

"When I call to mind the gold and the work thus dissipated in 
smoke and sound and compare that picture with this other— villagers 
with drawn, sallow faces, men and women and dimly conscious 
children perishing slowly and painfully of hunger — I begin to ask 
myself whether human culture and the white man who personifiej* 
it are not wending toward the abyss." 



METHODS IN MODERN WARFARE 303 

In '^War and Waste" Dr. David Starr Jordan quotes the table 
of Richet to show the cost of a general European war. 

Per day the French statistician figures the war's cost thus: 

Feed of men $12,600,000 

Feed of horses. 1,000,000 

Pay (European rates) 4,250,000 

Pay of workmen in arsenals and ports 1,000,000 

Transportation (sixty miles, ten days) 2,100,000 

Transportation of provisions 4,200,000 

Munitions — 

Infantry, ten cartridges a day 4,200,000 

Artillery, ten shots per day 1,200,000 

Marine, two shots per day 400,000 

Equipment 4,200,000 

Ambulances: 500,000 wounded or ill ($1 per day) 500,000 

Armatm-e 500,000 

Reduction of imports 5,000,000 

Help to the poor (20 cents per day to one in ten) 6,800,000 

Destruction of towns, etc 2,000,000 

Total per day $49,950,000 



CHAPTER XX 
Canada's Part in the World War 

New Relations Toward the Empire — Military Preparations — The Great Camp at 

Valcartier — The Canadian Expeditionary Force — ^Political Effect of Canada's Action 

on Future of the Dominion. 

THE sailing of the First Canadian Contingent on October 
2, 1914, for England, en route to the theater of war, 
marked a noteworthy epoch in Canadian history. For the 
first time the Dominion took her place, not as a British colony, but 
as a component part of the British Empire. This position was 
estabhshed by the voluntary offer of expeditionary troops to be 
raised, equippedj and paid by Canada for the defense of the 
British Empire. 

For many years a movement had been on foot to bring about 
this attitude on the part of the Dominion by His Majesty's govern- 
ment. No such action was taken by the Dominion in the South 
African War, though a Canadian regiment was raised for the 
guarding of Halifax so that the regiment of British soldiers doing 
garrison duty there might be released for service at the front, and 
all other troops who left Canada went simply as volunteers to join 
the British army, though raised by the Dominion government. 

When the situation in South Africa reached a critical stage 
and there were fears of German interference on behalf of the 
Boers it became clear that the British government strongly desired 
a helping hand from Canada for political reasons. It seemed a good 
time to show a solid front and a united Empire. Later, on October 
3d, there came a request for 500 men from the British Colonial 
Secretary. No immediate action was taken on this, but on October 
13th, the government passed an Order-in-Council for the raising of 

(30i) 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 305 

1,000 volunteers and providing for their equipment and transporta- 
tion. But these men were really British volunteers, not Canadian 
troops, as once at the front they became British soldiers under 
British pay. This contingent was known as a "Special Service 
BattaHon of the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry," and did 
not belong in any sense to the organized troops of the Dominion, 
either regular or mihtia, although they approached naore nearly 
to that status than in any previous case of assistance given by the 
Dominion to the Empire. 

In the Indian Mutiny in 1857 a regiment was raised in Canada 
by the British government known as the "100th Prince of Wales 
Royal Canadian Regiment" and in the Empire's other wars, such 
as the Crimean and the Soudanese, there were always Canadian 
volunteers in the British forces. 

MILITARY PREPARATIONS 

The declaration of war by Great Britain on Germany made 
on the night of August 4, 1914, foxmd the people of the Dominion 
not wholly unprepared for the situation. For some time ways 
of helping the mother country had been the chief topic both in 
government circles and among the people at large. This is best 
instanced by the following telegram sent by His Royal Highness, 
the Governor-General, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, 
Rt. Hon. Lewis Harcourt. 

"Ottawa, August 1, 1914. 

"In view of the impending danger of war involving the Empire 
my advisers are anxiously considering the most effective means 
of rendering every possible aid, and will welcome any suggestions 
and advice which Imperial naval and mihtary authorities may deem 
it expedient to offer. They are confident that a considerable 
force would be available for service abroad, as under section sixty- 
nine of Canadian Mihtia Act the active mihtia can only be placed 
on active service beyond Canada for the defense thereof. It has 
been suggested that regiments might enUst as Imperial troops for 

20 



806 CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 

a stated period, Canadian Government undertaking to pay all 
necessary financial provisions for their equipment, pay and main- 
tenance. This proposal has not yet been maturely considered here 
and my advisers would be glad to have views of Imperial Govern- 
ment thereon. '^ Arthur." 

This ofifer from Canada preceded similar offers from Australia, 
India, South Africa and Egypt. 

The response to this came in the following cable from His 
Majesty. 

'XoNDON, August 4, 1914. 

''Please communicate to your ministers following message 
from His Majesty the King and publish: 

" 'I desire to express to my people of the Overseas Dominions 
with what appreciation and pride I have received the messages from 
their respective governments during the last few days. These 
spontaneous assurances of their fullest support recalled to me the 
generous self-sacrificing help given by them in the past to the 
Mother country. I shall be strengthened in the discharge of the 
great responsibilities which rest upon me by the confident beUef 
that in this time of trial my Empire will stand united, calm, resolute, 
and trusting in God. " 'George R. L' 

"Harcourt." 

Mr. Harcourt also cabled advising that although there was 
not immediately need for an expeditionary force it would be advisa- 
ble to take all legislative and other steps necessary to the providing 
of such a force in case it should be required later. 

The declaration of the war by Great Britain was officially 
recognized in Canada on August 5th, in a message from the Governor- 
General, beginning: 

''Whereas a state of war now exists between this country and 
Germany." 

On the following day came a call to the militia for active 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 307 

service and Canada had gone on record as having accepted her 
responsibilities as an integral part of the Empire. She was send- 
ing troops to help England not as volunteers who were to become 
British soldiers, but as Canadian soldiers, enlisted, clothed, armed, 
equipped and paid by Canadian dollars. 

Shortly after this came another cablegram from Mr. Harcourt 
gratefully accepting the offer of the expeditionary force and request- 
ing that it be sent forward as quickly as possible. This cablegram 
was supplemented by another suggesting one army division as a 
suitable composition for this expeditionary force. The terms of 
enlistment were to be as follows : 

"(a) For a term of one year unless war lasts longer than one 
year, in which case they will be retained until war is over. If 
employed with hospitals, depots of mounted units, and as clerks, 
et cetera, they may be retained after termination of hostiUties until 
services can be dispensed with, but such retention shall in no case 
exceed six months. 

" (6) To be attached to any arm of service should it be required 
of them." 

An army division of war strength consists of about 22,500 
men composing all branches of the service. 

While the call to arms found Canada prepared morally and 
financially, it found the country sadly unprepared from the stand- 
point of equipment. It was necessary to buy or make rifles, uni- 
forms, guns and equipment of every description to increase the 
limited supply on hand to the necessary point. The quantity and 
variety of supplies required by an army division seems mountainous 
to the civilian. They ran the entire gamut from shoe laces to motor 
trucks, and these had to be purchased at the high prices caused 
by sudden demand wherever it was possible to obtain them in 
quantities with the greatest speed. 

In this great work of mobilization Canada's fine railway organi- 
zations played a great and necessary part. With their aid and that 
of many prominent men in Canadian affairs the question of the 



308 CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 

gathering together of materials at selected points went ahead 
rapidly. 

The matter of enlistments held equally important sway. An 
order in comicil authorized an army of 22,218 officers and men and 
the recruiting officers wasted no time in setting about their work. 
All over the Dominion men had been drilling ever since the danger 
of war became acute. The organized mihtia was hard at work. 
Volunteers were being rapidly gathered and after a thorough 
medical examination were put in charge of a drill sergeant. There 
was no difficulty in getting men and the recruiting officers from the 
first were overwhelmed with applications. Canada was going to the 
aid of the mother country, not unwillingly, not with hesitancy, not 
with parsimony, but with a great rush of enthusiasm to save the 
Empire, Om- Empire! 

THE GKEAT CAMP AT VALCARTIER 

The problem of concentrating this huge body of men soon 
became a real one. A great mobilization camp was needed. A place 
not too far from the Atlantic, with ample railroad facilities, large 
and roomy enough for the manoeuvering of large bodies of men as 
well as their housing in tents, must be found. A further qualifica- 
tion was that this great camp should be located in a position of 
strategic importance and one which could be defended should the 
necessity arise. 

Such a place was found at Valcartier, a small village some six- 
teen miles from the City of Quebec on the fine of the Canadian 
Northern Railway. 

When the war was declared the government did not own Valcar- 
tier and few people had ever heard of it. Soon, however, the name 
began to grow more familiar with the newspapers and in a day or two 
the place became government property. For the purpose it proved 
ideal. 

Great expanse of level country provided an ideal manoeuvering 
ground. The site of the camp itself was high enough for good 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 309 

drainage and the Jacques Cartier River provided an abundance of 
good water. 

But with the acquisition of the ground the work had Just begun. 
It was necessary to erect tents for the housing of 30,000 men. A 
commissary for their subsistence must be provided. Stores and 
storehouses had to be rushed to the spot and there was a huge 
amount of work of a more or less permanent character in the shape 
of water works with many miles of piping, shower baths, drinking 
troughs, an electric light plant and the like. The engineers were 
called upon immediately to lay out the camp and its many auxiliary 
features. A rifle range, the largest in the world, was immediately 
planned and put in operation for the training of the soldiers, for few 
men unacquainted with miUtary life are able to handle modem 
high-powered miUtary rifles with any degree of success, although the 
average man, under capable instructors, rapidly becomes proficient. 
ArtiUery ranges in the Laurentian Hills were established for the 
training of the field artillery. Here the big sixty-pounders, which 
throw a shell for nearly five miles, first woke the echoes. 

A great bridge-building record was made by the men of the 
Royal Canadian Engineers under the direction of Major W. Bethune 
Lindsay of Winnipeg. The Jacques Cartier River separates the 
main camp from the artillery practice grounds at the base of Mounts 
Ileene and Irene. Across this 350 feet of waterway the Royal 
Canadian Engineers built within four hours a barrel-pier pontoon 
bridge capable of carrying heavy batteries. The Major and his 
three hundred men worked with that well-ordered efficiency which 
characterizes the efforts of the British bred. The race for the record 
started with the Canadian Northern Railway. The materials — 
barrels, planking, etc. — ^were freighted on to the ground with remark- 
able dispatch. The casks were made watertight, the timber was 
made ready, the twenty-foot bank cut down to provide an easy 
grade for traffic, and the actual test was on. 

There was never a hitch. One party of men lashed the barrels 
to the heavy planks, and, as soon as that operation was complete. 



310 CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 

another party lifted the pier and carried it down the bank. Another 
squad of men conveyed it on to the water, where it was taken in 
charge by still another party and floated out to the front line. The 
pier was drawn quickly into position, and as many men as could 
work with freedom soon had the flooring spiked down. The actual 
bridging commenced at eight o'clock; the span was complete at 
ten minutes after twelve. The extra ten minutes were accounted 
for by the fact that on one or two occasions passing bodies of other 
troops necessitated a temporary cessation of carrying operations. 

Col. Burstall, Director of Artillery at the Camp, visited the 
work during the morning and expressed his astonishment at the 
progress effected. Ordinarily it is a good day's work to throw a 
bridge of this class across a three-hundred-foot stream. Col. G. F. 
Maunsell, Director General of Engineering Service in Canada, who is 
attached to headquarters at Ottawa, also paid close attention to the 
task and was vastly pleased with the result. Col. Morrison, Ottawa, 
of the Artillery Service, hurried a gun across the bridge when com- 
pleted, establishing its efficiency at once. Without doubt the 
brother officers of Major Lindsay, in all branches of the service, were 
extremely gratified at the efficiency and despatch of the men making 
up the Royal Canadian Engineers at the big camp. 

Of course, the railway problem of moving the thousand or more 
troop trains which were rushing from all parts of Canada to Val- 
cartier was a huge one. In this they had to cope with the great 
quantity of supplies and equipment v/hich was daily forwarded. At 
Valcartier it was necessary for the Canadian Northern to form a 
loop for the rapid handling of these trains so that a constant stream 
of trains was kept continually movuig in both directions without 
interruption. 

Great hardships and inconveniences resulted in many cases 
from the lack of proper equipment. It was colder down in Quebec 
than in many other parts of the Dominion and a great many men 
were without sufficient blankets to keep them warm. Uniforms 
were scarce and army shoes fit for the work of drills and manceuvers 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 311 

even scarcer. Gradually, however, these deficiencies were supplied, 
recruits began to show amazing progress in the art of soldiering and 
Uttle by little the great camp lost its motley appearance and became 
an efficient military organization in which rigid discipline and high 
efficiency prevailed. In six weeks Valcartier's 30,000 were ready, 
ready for England and the final polish which was to fit them for the 
test of battle. They could even have been sent to the front. It 
seemed that this was not yet necessary. 

THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 

But it was decided that the time had come for this great body 
of troops to leave. The original plan of sending a division of 
22,500 men was supplemented by the dispatch of the remaining 
7,500 as a reserve to prevent the delay in getting them to the front 
should the necessity arise suddenly. Members of the government 
spoke of a possible second or third contingent, as experience had 
taught them that it would be as easy to raise 100,000 men as it had 
been to raise 30,000. At a given time the evacuation of Valcartier 
began. Thirty-two transports lay in the St. Lawrence prepared to 
take the division to England, and soon the first contingent began 
to move toward the sea. The British fleet had cleared the ocean 
of all but a few scattered German cruisers, and these were amply 
guarded against by the warships which acted as escorts. And so, on 
the second day of October Canada's first great pledge of loyalty 
left the shores of the Dominion to go to the defense of the Empire. 

On October 15th the transports reached Plymouth, England, 
and were received with greatest enthusiasm. An English newspaper, 
The Western Morning News, spoke of the arrival the next morning 
in the following terms: 

''The arrival of the fleet of transports with the first contingent 
of Canadian forces on board was an event of good augury for the 
future of the war. These splendid men have come, some of them 
nearly 6,000 miles, to testify to the unity of the Empire and take 
their share of the burden which rests upon Britons the world over 



312 CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 

of being the stoutest champions of justice and Hberty. Even if their 
numbers were smaller we should hail their arrival as a symbol of 
the solidarity of the British race, but they come a large number in 
themselves, yet only the earnest of many more to come if they are 
needed to help in defeating the imposition of German tyranny and 
militancy on the world. The cheers they raised for the old country 
as they steamed into the harbor yesterday, and the splendid vigor 
and spirit they displayed, showed they have both the will and the 
power to give a good account of themselves at the front and prove 
worthy comrades of the dauntless band of heroes who, under Sir 
John French, have won the unstinted admiration of our French and 
Russian and Belgian allies and, indeed, of the whole world." 

Then followed long weeks of hard training on Sahsbury Plains. 
At last they were considered fit for the front and the contingent 
was transported to France. Of their conduct there, under the 
baptism of fire, the following letter from General French at Head- 
quarters of the British Army, dated March 3d, to His Royal High- 
ness the Duke of Connaught, is an ample testimonial. 

"The Canadian troops having arrived at the front, I am anxious 
to tell yoiu* Royal Highness that they have made the best impression 
on all of us. 

''I made a careful inspection of the division a week after they 
came to the country, and I was very much struck by the excellent 
physique which was apparent throughout the ranks. The soldierly 
bearing and the steadiness with which the men stood in the ranks 
(on a bleak cold snowy day) was most remarkable. 

"After two or three weeks preliminary education in .the trenches, 
attached by unit to the Third Corps, they have now taken their 
own line on the right of that corps — as a complete division — and I 
have the utmost confidence in their capability to do valuable and 
efficient service. 

"The Princess Patricia's Regiment arrived with the 27th 
Division a month earfier and since then they have performed 
splendid service in the trenches. 




THE CHARGE OF THE 9th BRITISH LANCERS ON THE GERMAN GUNS 

One of the most notable exploits of this famous cavalry regiment was their charge 
on a German battery, which had given much trouble, and their cutting down all the 
gunners and putting the guns put of action. 




Copyright, J91J,, Sun Printing and Publishing Ass'n. 

A PISTOL DUEL IN THE AIR 

A_ German Taube monoplane having located the British forces and made a sketch 
of their position, was suddenly attacked from above by a British Bristol biplane and a 
French Blcriot monoplane. In this way many pilots were shot in the air and their 
machines brought to the ground, 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 313 

"When I inspected them (although in pouring rain), it seemed 
to me I had never seen a more magnificent looking battahon — Guards 
or otherwise. 

"Two or three days ago they captured a German trench with 
great dash and energy and excellent results. 

"I am writing these few lines because I know how deeply we are 
all indebted to the mitiring and devoted efforts your Royal Highness 
has personally made to ensure the despatch in the most efficient 
condition of this valuable contingent." 

The first contingent had evacuated Valcartier only a short 
time when the second contingent began to move toward the great 
mobihzation camp, for a similar process of training to that followed 
in the first case. 

When the second contingent sailed away from Canada to take 
its place with the aUies on the battlefields of Europe, it was ac- 
companied by a battery of the most complete and efficient armored 
motor car rapid-fire machine guns ever devised. Indeed, they are, 
so far as is known, the first motor car machine guns in the ranks 
of the alHes in any way comparing inkpoint of up-to-dateness and 
efficiency with those now being employed by the German army. 
For up till recently Germany was the only power which had given 
any attention to armored motor car machine guns. The Germans 
had been experimenting for several years upon this latest develop- 
ment in field weapons, and when the present war broke out they had 
a type of armored motor car rapid-fire gun that has enabled them to 
do a kind of work that would not be done by any other sort of 
artillery. Great Britain, France and Belgium began hurriedly 
experimenting, and hastily put together a number of machine guns 
mounted on armored motor cars. These were but tentative weapons, 
however, quickly designed to meet an exigency for which the aUies 
had not, like the Germans, already prepared. It has remained for 
Canada to evolve a type of armored motor car battery that is said 
to be the most perfect and effective that has ever been constructed. 

This ultra-modern battery of forty guns was a part of Canada's 



314 CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 

contribution to the Empire at war. Fifteen of the guns were 
made possible by the patriotic generosity of Mr. J. C. Eaton, 
Toronto's well-known millionaire department store owner, and were 
designated as the Eaton Battery. They were completed right in 
Toronto, where both the experimenting and designing were 
carried on, and the cars and guns put together, under the super- 
vision of Mr. W. K. McNaught, C.M.G., who undertook the task 
of directing the work for the government. The corps of officers 
and men who man the battery had a special course of trainiQg 
under Capt. W. J. Morrison at Exhibition Camp. 

It is only necessary to recall to mind certain pictures that have 
appeared recently of motor car machine guns in action to realize 
with what deadly effectiveness these weapons may be employed 
iQ present-day warfare. They combine all the terrific killing power 
of the rapid-fire machine gun with the swift mobility and tirelessness 
of the gasoline-driven motor car. Protected behind almost impreg- 
nable steel arnior plate, the driver may dash ahead of the advancing 
lines and enable the gunner, almost completely protected, to mow 
down the ranks of the enemy with a sweeping stream of rifle bullets, 
played along a line of men much as one would play a stream of water 
from a fire hose. The car may be in motion all this time, or may stop 
only for an instant, so that the enemy has no time to train its artil- 
lery upon it. It may dash into what would be for infantry or 
cavalry or ordinary gmmers the jaws of death, distribute its deadly 
sting, and then dash out again unscathed. Thus it may be of incal- 
culable service in the field. Or it may be used in a town where whole 
masses of defenders may be driven back, and the streets completely 
cleared by the rapid sweep of its bullets. 

The armored motor car guns which were constructed in Toronto 
are built on a motor truck chassis. The wheels are made of pressed 
steel, and have heavy tires of solid rubber. All the rest of the car 
is effectively covered with Harveyized steel plates, which were 
severely tested. This armorplate was rolled in Canada by Canadian 
workmen, and was made from iron ore mined in Nova Scotia. 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 315 

The distinctive fighting feature of the car is the revolving 
turret of this armor-plate in which the offensive apparatus is 
situated. This turret rises above the four-foot armored body at 
about the center of the car. In it is the new model Maxim rapid-fire 
gun, mounted very strongly on an apparatus of steel and phosphor 
bronze, the invention of Canadian engineers. This gun mount 
really carries the revolving turret which surrounds it, and which 
revolves so easily on ball bearings that a mere touch of the hand will 
move it. It can make a complete revolution, so that the gun has a 
clear sweep. It can be locked by means of a lever operated by the 
gunner. The gunner sits on a seat fastened to the frame which 
supports the turret. The runnmg machinery of the car which comes 
below the floor, is, of course, protected by a steel skirt, which 
extends around the car. The machine gun is aimed through a loop- 
hole in the steel turret. It can fu-e from 300 toi 600 rifle bullets a 
minute, and has an effective range of a mile and a half. The bullets 
are held in a belt which runs through the gun automatically. The 
armor-plate on the rear of the car is loop-holed so that rifles can be 
used. Each of the machine guns has two extra barrels, the reason 
for this being that with the bullets passing through the barrel so 
rapidly it naturally becomes very hot, and so must be changed 
frequently. 

Another feature of the car is that it is protected overhead as 
well as around the sides and front, and rendered immune from shrap- 
nel fire, missiles from aeroplanes, and dropping bullets, by the same 
kind of armor-plate that is used on the sides. Thus the drivers 
and all the fighting men are completely protected by armor-plate. 

Each car, in addition to its fighting ecjuipment, carries picks, 
shovels, wire rope, repair tools and provisions. Attached to the 
battery are two workshop cars, with turning lathes and repair 
machines diiven by motor spare parts, etc. These stay behind the 
firing line. 

Each car carries a complement of five men, including the two 
men who drive and the gunner who operates the machine gun. The 



316 CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR 

extra two ride in the rear and may use rifles through the loop-holes. 
But there is no real specialization, for each man must be competent 
not only as a soldier but as a chauffeur, machinist and gunner. If 
there is only one man left in the car, he must be able to operate the 
machine gun, rmi the car, and make repairs if necessary. And he 
must be a man who can keep his head, observe intelhgently, and plan 
for himself and his regiment. Those in charge of the recruiting for 
the Eaton Battery expressed themselves as well pleased with the type 
of men secured. Many had seen service before; there were several 
expert telegraphers, several expert signalers, and one an ex-lieu- 
tenant in the British navy. 

POLITICAL EFFECT OF CANADA'S ACTION ON FUTURE OF 

DOMINION. 

As had been outUned in the early portion of this chapter, the 
World War produced a result in the Dominion long sought by the 
British government. From the position of a British Colony independ- 
ent in all but name and free to send or withhold military aid, Canada 
has voluntarily advanced step by step in the direction of stronger 
unification of the British Empire. In each of the wars fought by 
Great Britain the part to be taken by Canadian soldiers has received 
more and more formal recognition from the Dominion government, 
advancing from a mere permission to volunteer, through various 
stages to the actual enlistment, equipment and dispatch of a purely 
Canadian Contingent under Canadian officers and Canadian pay to 
the support of the British Empire. 

Though each step had been in this direction few thought that 
Canada would ever take such action. It has been admitted that if 
Canada herself was attacked Canadians would, of course, defend 
themselves to the last. It was even admitted that aid might be sent 
in case of an attack on the British Isles, as a part of the Empire, but 
that it lay within the bounds of possibihty that Canada would go 
so far as to raise an army to take part in a campaign in Europe seemed 
far beyond the range of imagination. 



CANADA'S PART IN THE WORLD WAR *349 

Notwithstanding this, however, the Dominion ha»s made the 
move without hesitation and in so doing has established a precedent 
which is apt to prove of huge importance in the future history of the 
Dominion. 

Great Britain's enemies must consider not merely a war on 
Great Britain but a war on the British Empire, for Canada as well 
as AustraUa, India, South Africa and Egypt, haviog once sent aid 
could not again refuse it and make their position tenable. The 
Empire now presents a soHd front to the world and her strength is 
vastly increased by the loyalty and devotion of the Overseas Pom in- 
ions. 

This military unity must also produce results in other directions 
tending toward a closer union between the Dominion and the Mother 
country. We venture to predict that the future will witness a 
strengthening of the bonds of loyalty, of commercial and educational 
ties without the least abatement of the complete autonomy enjoyed 
by the great Dominion. 



* The illustrations in this book are not paged. Therefore by adding these 32 pages 
to the 317 pages of text makes a total of 349 pages. 



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